Imperial Storm
by btbassaj
Summary: 19 years after the Battle of Yavin, peace has come to the galaxy. Soon, though, a hidden army will emerge and lay waste to an innocent planet. Only two unlikely allies, bound together by the power of the Force, have the ability to turn the tide against the armies of darkness and liberate the occupied planet.
1. Prologue - The Coming Storm

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.

**STAR**

**WARS**

It is a time of peace and prosperity for

the New Republic. After decades of civil

conflict, the Republic and the remnants of

the Galactic Empire have signed a peace

treaty proclaiming the end of the GALACTIC

CIVIL WAR.

Little does either side know that evil has not truly

been vanquished, and that enemies of freedom

still exist. One such enemy nears an unknown

planet near the outer rim, EQUESTRIA.

As the renegade army, the BLACK HAND,

approaches its unsuspecting prey, their

actions will set in motion a chain of events

that not only threatens the safety of the

innocent planet, but the future of

the entire galaxy as well…

Infinite blackness. That was what space was like. That was what space _was_. Peppered by millions of bright spots, nebula clouds dotting the emptiness, with the occasional comet wandering about, the darkness expanded onwards. Silent, unmoving, eventless, with no planets or suns or moons or asteroids or anything of the sort nearby, nothing except the miniscule dots of distant stars and the strands of nebula stretching about like cotton, the abyss sat still, as it always had, waiting for something to happen.

It did not have to wait very long.

The silence of the void was interrupted by a large dagger slicing through the black at a slow, yet steady pace. Quiet as the emptiness itself, except for the low hum of its sublight engines, the large cruiser sailed ominously through space, in perfect formation with the other cruisers it was accompanying. Of varying shapes and sizes, some as small as a skyscraper and shaped like a small ellipse, while others huge swords and as big as cities, they were all nonetheless dwarfed by the singular titan they were escorting.

In the days of old, there was much to fear from these vessels. The Tartan cruisers were small, nimble, and couldn't withstand firepower from the average frigate, but their rapid-fire lasers and speed ensured that any small one-man ship that came within firing distance of it would become nothing but scrap metal and burning oxygen within mere seconds. The Immobilizer 418 was not a direct-battle type of frigate, but it was feared all the same, not the least because of its usual jamming system that diverted enemy missiles from meeting their targets, but also because of their infamous gravity well-generators that prevented retreat from a fight if things went hairy for the attackers. The Imperial Star Destroyer, long known as a symbol of repression and terror, carried enough soldiers to occupy an entire planet and was bristling with enough cannons and weaponry to turn metropolis to ashes. It was a testament to the great Empire it once served, which had now been run aground and driven to total defeat. The legacy of the dagger-shaped battlecruiser, however, endured nonetheless.

And then there was the Eclipse.

The Empire was always known for building colossal weapons to demonstrate their superiority and willingness to do whatever means necessary to enforce control on the galaxy it had subjugated. Ranging from Executor Star Destroyers, which could occupy whole star systems at once and obliterate several enemy fleets at the same time without so much as batting an eye, to the terrifying Death Stars, moon-sized battleships that could erase a planet from existence with one push of a button, the Empire had poured massive amounts of credits to the development and construction of such machines. One of them was the Eclipse.

Black and dark as the very abyss it was traveling through, bristling with more than a thousand heavy weapons, armed to the teeth with soldiers eager to deploy on unfortunate star systems, the Eclipse Star Dreadnought was considered to be one of the most awesome and terrifying ships to witness up close, and no one that had done so had ever forgotten it. When it was first encountered, its mystery was such that it was assumed to be a ghost ship – that is, until the luckless witnesses were vaporized by its sudden barrage of turbolaser cannons. For years, under a reborn Emperor hell-bent on revenge, the Eclipse carved a swathe of destruction throughout the galaxy with its Imperial loyalists, intent on squashing the Republic and resurrecting the Empire that had at that point been crippled. It could have done so as well, had it not been for the determination of its enemies and the willpower of its most hated foes, the Jedi. With all incarnations of this machine of destruction eliminated, combined with its Emperor banished to the depths of the Force permanently, the destruction of the Eclipse Star Dreadnoughts was, to most people, the last shot of the Galactic Empire, its death knell. After the second death of the Emperor and the obliteration of the Eclipse II over Byss, despite successes under their new leader, Gilad Pellaon, the Empire was on the run, and nineteen years after the Battle of Yavin, finally sued for peace. The galaxy breathed a sigh of relief: the conflict was now officially over. The Empire was, in a sense, gone.

Of course, if they could see the fleet now, they would say otherwise. But they couldn't, so they didn't.

On the bridge of the Eclipse Star Dreadnought, the Grand Admiral, Kier Dullan, stared out into space, lost in his thoughts.

That was all he ever did, really. Being the Grand Admiral of the Black Hand hadn't really done much for him these few years. But he could clearly remember the beginning.

The Black Hand had been functional ever since the death of Grand Admiral Thrawn over Bilbringi, originally formed as a covert operations unit under the now-deceased Chiss commander. After the destruction of his fleet and the end of his campaign, however, his entire army splintered, although they would be reunited under the leadership of the resurrected Emperor years later. The Black Hand was once again called to service, and this time augmented, given the latest weaponry upgrades to utilize, some of the finest crews to serve the fleet, and some of the most dedicated soldiers to be fielded at the front. The entire fleet was transformed into a special force for the Emperor, to be the driving force in turning the advantage against the Republic and bringing back the glory and power of the Empire of old. Filled with the most fanatical of Imperial loyalists, the Black Hand was the bane of Republic military forces, even their elite units such as Wraith Squadron. Initially serving under the flagship of the Executor Star Destroyer _Dark Prince_, the fleet saw many covert actions against Republic territories behind enemy lines, wrecking havoc on their space stations and generating mass panic and confusion. However, at the final fight over Byss, while the Emperor was fighting and was eventually defeated by the combined efforts of the New Republic and the Jedi Knights, the _Dark Prince_ was overwhelmed by the enemy fleets and torn apart, completely destroyed and forgotten. Divided and leaderless, the Black Hand had retreated, with Admiral Dullan stowing away on one of the Star Destroyers, the _Entropy_. Assuming command, he ordered a complete withdrawal of the fleet away from the front, out of the Galaxy entirely. It was over. The Emperor was destroyed, and the fleet disintegrated. There was nothing more to it.

He hadn't carried it out by himself, though. One other major survivor of the event was his current superior. The man had, at first, not really impressed Dullan. He was of same stature as he was, only a bit taller, tended to be on the quiet end, never really tried to make an impression of himself, and was an absolute subordinate to the Emperor, carrying out his orders without question. Only after the Emperor's death had Kier really begun to fear him.

The first thing to know about Malum was that he was a Sith Lord. After the death of Darth Vader and the betrayal of Luke Skywalker, Palpatine needed a replacement – not only to assist him in his war of vendetta against the new order, but also to remain and exact revenge in the future had his attempt failed. He found his new apprentice on Korriban, as is typical of the Sith Lords: they always found their successors there; the planet was teeming with dark energy. Through the years, even while Vader was his apprentice, Palpatine knew that his official apprentice was training a secret one of his own. And so he fought fire with fire: recruited his own subordinate and trained him hard, in the ways of the Dark Side. It succeeded. Malum became a Sith Lord that would have rivaled, maybe even bested Vader. But Vader soon died, and Palpatine went with him. Due to injuries sustained to his lungs on the _Dark Prince_ before the ships destruction, he was forced to wear a breather mask on him so he could breathe and work properly. Not a full on body-armor and helmet like Vader, mind you, the damage wasn't as extensive: it only covered up his mouth and nose. But something in that fight changed him. Or, rather, it became more apparent.

Dullan would have assumed command had it not been for his fear of the new Sith Lord. He wasn't foolish enough to pick a fight with one of them. They could stop your heart with a simple thought or break your neck with one twitch of their fingers. But the Sith were usually more sadistic than that: they would probably choke you very slowly to death or electrify you until you became nothing but bones and ashes. He had seen what Palpatine and Vader did, and he wasn't one to be idiotic enough to stand in their way, not when there was the New Republic to be fought.

New Republic. The mere thought of the term made his skin crawl with hate.

He was an ardent supporter of the Empire ever since it emerged long ago. He was only a teenager when it was proclaimed, but he never really liked the Jedi to begin with. They meddled too much in Republic affairs and fought the war against the Confederacy on their own terms. They were becoming too independent, and practiced caution when an entire galaxy was engulfed in flame; order was needed. And it was order that Palpatine promised. And it was order that came.

As soon as he could, he volunteered for the Imperial Academy at Carida and signed up for command roles on the new Star Destroyers that had been fielded. His first assignment was to the Star Destroyer _Exactor_, Vader's commandship around that time. He was present at the occupation of Kashyyyk, calibrating the weapons and directing their fire at the Wookie resistance forces below. As time passed, he was transferred from ship to ship, steadily climbing up the promotion ladder. He was one of the elite officers at the Battle of Endor, and had personally witnessed the catastrophe that had happened to the Empire there. Battered into submission and drained of morale by the death of their Emperor and the annihilation of their Death Star, the Imperial Fleet had been routed, and it was every man for themselves. Pellaon, aboard the _Chimera_, ordered a general retreat, and the Rebel Alliance claimed victory that day.

Dullan continued to serve under Pellaon out of respect and loyalty. The galaxy was falling apart, and it needed a way of staying together under a strong hand. But then, Pellaon announced the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn, and here Dullan breathed a sigh of relief. Here was someone that would properly restore order to the galaxy and quash those Alliance roaches for good. Dullan was given command of his own Star Destroyer, the _Stalker_,and had his part of the fleet reformed into the Black Hand. An elite group of battle-hardened and extremely loyal soldiers, the Black Hand was to be the primary dagger driven into the heart of the insurrection. This was a great honor for Dullan. He would personally snuff out that flame of lies the Alliance had lit and rebuild the Empire for the future of progress and unity.

That would have happened had Thrawn not been betrayed and killed by his own bodyguard, at the pinnacle of what would have been his final and most glorious battle. With no strong leader to keep the Empire together, it imploded once again, and the fleet along with it. Dullan would have surrendered had it not been for his outspoken loyalty to an idea he was committed to, and thus had barely managed to retreat at the last second before the Republic navy could figure out what was going on. He stayed with the Black Hand for months before he was approached by Emperor Palpatine himself, back from the grave. Floored by the shock of having to see his old leader again, Dullan had no choice but to accept, out of a combination of fear of reprisal, hope to smash up the usurpers, and loyalty to his Empire. Now, though, he was given command of the _Dark Prince_, as a gesture of goodwill from Palpatine. Surprised by this, Dullan soon found out why: he was one of the few officers who stuck with the Emperor's New Order until the very end. It was only fitting that he would get of the more enduring symbols of the Empire along with it. He stayed along, hoping that this time, they would succeed. It took only a year to prove him wrong, and another to put the Emperor out of the galaxy for good.

This time, Dullan would take no chances. He would take the Black Hand far away from the reaches of both the Alliance and this failure called the Imperial Remnant, and after restructuring and rebuilding, the Black Hand would strike back and remove the Republic for good. He would have the personal honor of doing so; no matter how long or what resources it took, he was sure that the Rebels would rue the day they rose up against their order.

He just _had_ to drag along Malum for the ride as well, though.

As soon as Palpatine had been pulled into the depths of the Force, Malum automatically assumed command. And after Dullan had figured out everything, he automatically agreed as well. Rather than risk his neck being broken (literally), he would play along the subordination role one more time, and soon would see the galaxy return to the old days of strength and stability.

He would rather have the latter than the former, obviously. Anyone would.

Dullan heard footsteps behind him. He rarely moved, only stared out these days. It wasn't so much boredom as anticipation. He was merely waiting for that moment where, instead of blankness, the view would be filled with cruisers and energy beams of death lashing at each other, fighters exploding into nothingness and bombers firing off their payloads at their targets, with battleships duking it out at close range and patrol cruisers rapidly picking off enemy vessels one by one. This was a sight he was waiting for. A storm of hell and destruction. And he knew it wouldn't be very long until it happened.

"Admiral?" The meek voice of one of the officers came out quietly behind him. Dullan didn't bother to turn. He had worked with many of these people before. Defectors, loyalists, volunteers. The Black Hand took anyone who firmly believed in the idea of the Empire. If there was ever a slight of doubt about anyone's loyalty, they never would have brought him or her in. And he knew exactly who this one was: the sensor officer, tasked with overlooking their radar systems. He wondered what was so important that he was to be updated with information. Nothing really happened to them.

"We have two unidentified signals on approach. Inbound vessels, sir."

Dullan had been drifting through space for as long as he knew. He personally dealt with figures such as the Emperor, Vader, Tarkin, Thrawn, Zsinj, Isard, people that others would tremble at the very thought of, and was serving under a Sith Lord that would squeeze the life out of his lungs if he was so much as mildly disappointed. But he had never heard news that made his hair stand on end as this one.

Unidentified ships? Here? They were in the literal middle of nowhere. They didn't even have any idea where they were!

"Are you sure, captain?" Dullan asked, for the first time in his life sounding uncertain.

"Yes, Admiral" the captain, sounding the opposite but perturbed all the same, responded.

Dullan let out a sigh. The Eclipse that they were on, the _Shadow Hand_, as well as the rest of the fleet, were equipped with cloaking fields and the most advanced scanners they could find. Their Immobilizer cruiser, the _Harbinger_, had the gravity well generators removed and put on the Eclipse, replaced by their most important tool: a scanner jammer, the most advanced of their kind, that scrambled all information sent out to enemy ships about them, even during hyperspace. They could launch an attack on Coruscant right now and none of all the detectors in the galaxy would be able to see them coming. With their technology, they would be able to hide their entire fleet completely from both sight and screen, and there was no way anyone would be able to tell they were around, unless they were unlucky enough to be flying straight into one of the Star Destroyers – and even then, they wouldn't be around to tell about what they saw anyway.

The question was, what were two ships doing so far away? Had they gotten lost? Was one pursuing the other? Dullan didn't know the answer, but he knew how to get them.

"Activate all cloaking fields and the scanner jammer. Fleet will hold in position. Focus the scanners on estimated arrival zone of the ships. No one does anything without my command."

The captain nodded and headed off to the communications officer to relay the orders. Dullan thought about ordering the captain to inform Malum about this turn of events as well, but he decided against it. The mere idea of having to talk to the Dark Lord about something like this would have sent braver officers running to change their clothes – specifically, the bottom ones. He couldn't rely on them, but he would deliver the information later anyway. Malum trusted him enough to send this kind of intelligence later. Better to send it late but in full than to send it immediately but with minimal details, and then bother him repeatedly in updates.

Soon, the sublight engines were deactivated and the cloaking generators hummed into action. In seconds, the _Shadow Hand_, as well as the rest of the fleet, merged into the surrounding darkness, and soon faded out of visual sight. Becoming one with the void, the fleet stood in silence, waiting for what was going to happen next.

Dullan sighed again and looked at the monitor in front of him, which was showing him a patch of blank space. Looks like he was about to get half his wish.

It wasn't going to be a storm. But it would do.

* * *

So, here we are. My first fanfiction…are you excited? Hopefully!

I already have the prologue and chapter 1 completed, but chapter 2 is coming up soon. I won't upload 2 until I get three done though.

This fanfiction will take a LONG time (I'm talking months here) due to me being busy at work with a whole bunch of other things. However, I do have this fanfiction mapped out so that's something to look forward to. I see what happens when people create fanfictions that are really good then drop them about halfway through. It's depressing.

If you like this fanfiction or are interested in seeing more, be sure to hit up a comment or something. That way, I can know if I should keep going. Thank you!

*Note* This may also go on FIMFiction, along with my second fanfiction, so you can keep an eye out for it there =].


	2. Chapter 1 – Deadly Reunion

"Are we far enough out?"

"I think it is safe to say so, Captain."

"Great. Cut the hyperdrive and power up the sublight engines, then bring in calculations for the second jump."

"Roger, Captain."

The ship began to rumble and shake, slowing down considerably. The blue tunnel filling the cockpit began to twist and turn, the lines turning to dots and the colors fading to black. Within seconds, the windows were filled with dark space and the bright little lights that were stars. Now that they were surrounded by the abyss, Dash Rendar breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was a close call."

"Indeed it was" said his robotic co-pilot, Leebo. "Might I suggest we NOT do something like this again?"

"You know what they say, Leebo" Dash replied smoothly. "No pain, no gain. Gotta take risks, sometimes, it helps the pay".

"Yes, but you do realize that too much pain results in no gain, if you know what I mean? Don't you think you're taking risks a bit too high?" Leebo interjected.

"Come on, we've been through worse before" said the brash pilot with a smile.

"Like what?" Leebo asked dubiously.

"Skyhook battle, over Coruscant? With the other Alliance nutters?" Dash reminded him.

Leebo was silent for a second, something Dash took as reluctant agreement. But then he spoke again.

"You know that Gorga isn't going to take this lightly? That he's going to pursue you across half the galaxy for this?"

Dash smirked "No worries, Leeb, not like he's going to find us. And even if he does, what's he gonna do? Send his lackeys over? A few short pulls from ol' Blastey here and they're on the ground" he replied, patting his trusty pistol which he always kept holstered on his side.

"What about the others? Should we contact them?" the droid questioned.

"Nah, not yet, let's wait until we make another jump closer to a planet we know, then we'll signal them at the rendezvous point" Dash said. "Speaking of which, where exactly are we again?"

Being a droid, Leebo could not make any facial expressions, but Dash knew that if he could, his eyebrow would be raised quite a bit now.

"You mean to say you didn't check where you put the co-ordinates for the jump to lightspeed before you actually did so?" Leebo asked, now with a tone of irritation behind his robotic voice. "This is exactly what I mean by 'too high a risk'."

"Calm your gears, Leebo, we're in the middle of nowhere" Dash said calmly. "First, no one's gonna find us. Second, all we gotta do is check our navicomputer and see where we are. Then we just set the co-ordinates for the meeting point with the others".

"If you say so, sir" Leebo responded, with the vaguest hint of an exasperated sigh.

Dash suppressed the urge to chuckle. It was a good thing he had a droid with him. No one else would have the patience to work with his stubbornness and calm demeanor at times when it would be most annoying. In fact, his very first co-pilot, a Rodian, died twenty seconds into the first mission. Aside from being a co-pilot, though, Dash probably would call Leebo his closest friend. He was the only one to have stuck with him for so long, and his skills with piloting were quite impressive (although they didn't come close to his). Dash actually owed the droid quite a few favors, too, which went to show how much of a team they were, even if Leebo did tend to get a bit smart-mouthed at times (which he did. A lot).

For now, though, he had to get out of this empty space and regroup with the others. Step one: check navicomputer.

Skating over the various monitors and knobs, the scanners and switches, Dash arrived at the navi'. Looking it over, it appeared to be that they were at as close to the definition of nowhere as it could get. There was absolutely nothing nearby. They were quite some distance away from the edge of Mandalorian space, and beyond that was the reaches of the infinite, outside the galaxy. It would take some time, of course, about a few dozen parsecs approximately, to reach the edge itself, but if you got there, you could see the galaxy stretched across your cockpit. Dash never went there, but he had no reason to believe it wasn't a sight to behold. He had to put that on his bucket list at some point.

"Well, Leebo, I guess we're alone" Dash said. "And quite far away from any place that might seem habitable".

"I suppose so, sir" Leebo chimed, although there was a bit of uncertainty to his voice. "When do you want to make the second jump?"

"As soon as we can, let's give the ship a moment or two to breathe and we're outta here" was the reply.

Leebo nodded his head and went back to monitoring the systems. The _Outrider_ was the other part of Dash that he cherished immensely. If he owed Leebo a few favors, he was indebted to the ship for life. He had owned the ship for almost two decades, and it had never failed him. A lot of people, especially in the smuggling circles, considered the _Millennium Falcon_ to be the fastest ship in the galaxy, but Dash always considered the _Outrider_ to be faster, and if not, a close second. Han Solo, the captain of the _Falcon_, was almost as big a braggart as him, so the dispute was obvious. They continually challenged one another to a race to see which was faster, and at one point the _Falcon_ actually beat him. But Dash was determined to try again. However, Han had joined up with the Rebellion against the Empire, which was now the Republic and the Remnant, respectively. Dash was thought to be dead, but he preferred to keep it that way. It was better to be remembered as a martyr than to be chased by half the Black Sun goons across the galaxy for that bit of drama back on Coruscant.

The fiasco on that planet was helpful to Dash in more ways than to keep a low profile. Many years after the destruction of Xizor's palace and skyhook and the death of the crime lord, Dash happened upon Xizor's old bodyguard and personal assassin, Guri. She was, by all meaning of the term, unusual. Not because of her stunning beauty or lethal fighting prowess, but also because she was a droid. A human replica droid, the only of her kind programmed to be an assassin. She was Xizor's personal weapon until he snuffed it, where she then wandered the galaxy and happened to meet him (by a ridiculously bizarre coincidence) in a bar. She was reprogrammed to have the assassin part of her deleted and was left with zero memory of what happened before. They then teamed up, and Guri agreed to be the template for a new series of human replica droids, one of which would be a replica of Dash's older deceased brother, Stanton, who had died long ago. It was Stanton's death that turned Dash into the smuggler he was now. But Dash was grateful to have him once again by his side – in a manner of speaking, of course.

Not long afterwards, Dash and Guri parted ways, but once again met in another bizarre coincidence on Ryloth. Apparently, they had both been carrying out jobs for the same crime lord, both of which went awry. The criminal boss, obviously, wasn't very pleased, and called out his mercenaries against them. They happened to be at exactly the same place when the job backfired, and they teamed up against the incoming mercenary army. The troops were dispatched with relative ease, though, seeing as they were just crooks with guns, not professionally armed and trained soldiers like the Imperial stormtroopers., and Dash teamed up with Guri once again for this job.

It just had to go pear-shaped again, though.

The original plan was for a shipment to be delivered via Guri's ship, the _Wasp_, which was very similar to her previous ship, the _Stinger_, only this one didn't have weapons on it (it was rented very quickly specifically for this job). Guri and Stanton would pilot the _Wasp_, while Dash would stick to the _Outrider_ and provide the escort guns. This was the kind of mission where having at least three problems was considered normal, and they wanted to be prepared for everything.

This job, however, backfired in a different way. There wasn't three problems, but one very huge one.

They had just hypered into Saleucami, their destination, when out of nowhere popped up several Interceptor IV frigates: pirate vessels of the Zann Consortium. Ambushed at the last second, and outgunned by heavily armed pirates eager to board their victims, Dash did what any sane smuggler would do: drop the mission. The _Wasp_ dropped the cargo, turned, and hypered away before they could be destroyed by the enemy ships, while the _Outrider_ stayed behind to hold them off for a bit. The last transmission Dash sent to Guri was to head over to Shola with Stanton and meet him and Leebo there. Although the _Outrider _took some laser bolts, it was still working perfect; he could rely on her for that. She even took down one of the frigates by blowing out the engine coolant systems and rupturing the emergency life hatches. Once they had a clear screen, Dash immediately hit the hyperdrive and they rocketed away.

Seeing, though, as they were stuck far out in space, near the edge of the galaxy, it looked like Dash was going to have to make them wait for a while.

"How are all systems going, Leebo?" Dash called back to the droid co-pilot.

"All systems are checked" came the answer. "Green lights, the ship's working fine".

"Perfect, all we need to do now is–"

Dash's next words were interrupted when the ship jolted violently to the side, throwing Dash off his chair and sending alarms beeping and lights flickering. Instinctively, Dash grabbed the thrust control and maneuver stick, pushed the former to full while pulling at and turning the latter to the side. The _Outrider_ banked, turned, and began to rocket away. However, the ship continued to shake from what seemed to be a relentless assault on the unsuspecting vessel. Dash brought the sublight engines down to one percent, slowing the ship down tremendously while still keeping the control stick in the same position, then pushed the engines to maximum after a bit of turning. The cruiser fired up its engines and leapt forward, forcing the unsuspecting assailant to sail by him.

"Status!" Dash yelled.

"Shields down to 40%, hull damaged at Sectors 4 and 6" Leebo replied quickly. "Shields can still hold, but if we don't hurry up and get rid of whoever did this we'll be bantha fodder".

Dash didn't have to wait for Leebo to finish his sentence before he checked the scanners. What he saw on the screens made his blood boil.

A ship with a rounded green rear hull and what appeared to be rotating wings on either side was displayed on-screen. The cockpit was located on top, and the hull extended down into a small column jutting out with twin heavy cannons at the bottom. At the back, the engines were arranged in two small circles at the bottom and a horizontal line above them. The description read: _'Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft'_.

_Slave I_.

Boba Fett.

Dash swore at the top of his voice. How the hell did he find them?

He didn't have much time to consider that, however, before the attacker looped around and opened fire once again.

"Leebo, take the controls, I'll handle the guns!" yelled Dash, and Leebo was in the pilot seat an instant later.

The high-pitched wailing of the bolts lashed out at the unfortunate ship, which had to loop around and turn to avoid the bounty hunters relentless attack.

Although the _Outrider_ was incredibly fast, it was outmatched by the _Slave __I_ in maneuverability, and Dash soon found his enemy behind him constantly, railing on the back with red bolts.

"Shields down to 5%, sir, and it won't hold for much longer!" Leebo said loudly.

This was bad. If they didn't fix this in seconds, they could be blown to bits. And that was the last thing Dash wanted at this moment. Leebo was pushing the _Outrider_ to its maneuvering limits, but it still wasn't enough. _Slave I_ was still behind them, still unleashing its red beams of death at the helpless vessel.

But then, Dash came across an idea, one he had improvised while at the Academy a long time ago, and was sparingly practiced by many due to its risk of getting the pilot killed. It was going to be tremendously tricky, but the _Outrider_ had very powerful cannons. If they could pull this off, they might be able to force Fett out of the fight and away from them. He had to take the risk, lest he be turned to scrap along with his ship.

"Leebo, cut the sublight engines, and re-engage when I give the signal" Dash commanded.

"Are you sure, captain?" Leebo replied, surprisingly calm considering the situation. "Shields down to 2%, by the way–"

"Yes, I'm sure, do it!" Dash shouted, and Leebo complied. Dash held on to his chair but kept his right hand on the trigger, waiting for the precise moment.

The stars outside seemed to come to a standstill as the _Outrider_'s speed shrank down to almost motionless. The engine transformed from a huge raging monster into a slow, humming insect. The other ship, having been right behind him and following up his speed along with its attack, did not noticed that its prey had slowed down until it had filled up the Firespray's cockpit. At the last second, its pilot pushed the control stick to the side and the _Slave I_ screamed right over the _Outrider_. At that second, Leebo punched in the speed adjuster and the _Outrider_ sped off after Fett.

Dash immediately pulled the fire trigger, unleashing a storm of laserfire towards the small attack craft, hitting its rear shields which glowed blue from the effect of the cruiser's cannons. However, the blue shields began to flicker slowly, and soon Dash would be able to destroy _Slave I_, let alone severely damage. He had him now.

Something in the back of his mind, though, was unsettling. He had known Fett for long enough. Fett was, after all, the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy, and arguably the most experienced and relentless. He personally battled both Boba Fett and _Slave I_ on Gall Spaceport, which nearly cost him his life. Why was Fett making this easy? He knew that the _Outrider_'s guns could tear through his ship with relative ease, so why wasn't he pulling out, at least?

Dash's questions were answered fast enough when he looked back at the _Slave I_ again. The damage done to the ship was quite extensive: one circular engine was black and one of the wings seemed to be bent and melted. But that wasn't what drew his attention.

What did was a small blue blinking light floating towards him.

Dash figured out what it was at the last second.

Sonic charges.

"LEEBO!" screamed Dash "BANK! NOW—"

But too late.

Dash's sentence was interrupted by total silence. He couldn't hear anything, neither the pounding of the blaster bolts or the howl of his own voice. It was as if he was suddenly transported to the Maw in that one instant. There was nothing.

The silence didn't last, and was soon followed by a deafening bang that shook him to the very core and a bright blue flash that filled the cockpit, jerked the _Outrider_ off course, and sent it spinning away. Leebo had luckily seen the explosive as well and attempted to veer off to the side to avoid the worst of it. Fortunately, he had, but unfortunately, he hadn't avoided it all. The explosion had hit the dorsal part of the _Outrider_, sending it flying. Dash held on for dear life as the ship turned and twisted, alarms screamed and lights frantically blinked in an attempt for attention. At one point, the ship shuddered so violently he was nearly thrown off his seat. It seemed like forever that the ship was gyrating insanely, and the pilot felt as if he was going to be sick.

As suddenly as it happened, it stopped, thankfully before Dash could barf. The swirling patterns of neon lights were reduced to the familiar dot dot dot of passing stars, and the sound of the boom reduced to silence – except for Dash, who was unlucky enough to be a biological human being. His ears were still ringing loudly from the sonic charge – his right one more than his left – but he was in one piece at least.

The _Outrider_ stopped moving and returned to its course of moving straight forward instead of spinning out of control. It had taken severe damage from the skirmish, but it was still moving and functional.

The _Slave I_ had vanished.

"You think he's gone, sir?" Leebo questioned.

Dash snorted. He would bet his ship and his right arm that Fett was still alive. Sure, suffering heavy damage to his nimble ship as well, but alive. He would be damned before he'd let his quarry get away so easily. "Fett? Gone? Hah. He escaped a Sarlacc by himself, he can get away from his own toys just as well. Damage report?"

"Damage seems extensive, but not unrepairable" was the response. "Communications and long range scanners are knocked out, the top cannons are disabled, and shields are gone completely. The hyperdrives have also shorted out: both primary and secondary. We were lucky to get away the way we were."

Dash cursed. "Can we fix it?"

"Yes, we have the necessary tools to do all the repairs, but we'll be unable to do it in this space. We'll need to land somewhere first, and with us being in the middle of nowhere and running only on sublight, it will take some time before we find any planet – especially seeing as you didn't check to see whether we were going near a planet or not when we hypered out of the firefight."

Dash cursed again. Of all the luck…he was alive, but getting nowhere. How was he ever going to get out of this mess now? There was no way he could contact the others or escape from here. He had to figure out something, and something fast.

"Sir?" came his droid's beeping.

"What?" said Dash, rather rudely. Today was NOT going well at all.

"I suggest you check the scanners" was all that came from Leebo.

"You said the scanners were out" Dash said, confused.

"The long range ones. The short range one works well. And I think you should see this".

Dash's heart nearly skidded to a stop. There was no way that son of a gun could have survived…

"Is it Fett?" Dash asked quietly, trying to keep his voice even. What Leebo answered with both relieved and puzzled him.

"No, sir. Something else."

Dash managed to breathe smoothly again. Good thing that bounty hunter didn't show up again, or Dash would DEFINITELY be finished.

"What is it?" Dash pressed on.

"I think you should see for yourself" came Leebo's response.

Dash sighed with annoyance and went to the primary scanner monitor to see what Leebo was up to. And now he was definitely surprised.

"Are the maps working, Leebo?"

"Yes sir, fully updated as usual and in perfect condition, good thing our data banks were untouched by the fight."

"Relay it here" ordered the captain.

"Roger" Leebo responded.

The digital map of the galaxy popped up, replacing the scanner's results. Dash looked closely through the Mandalorian sector and found an approximation to where he was. He poured over it several times before conceding a baffling defeat.

Strange. He had gone over the map several times right now, and before the mission started. Although he didn't check where he was going before he punched the buttons, he was supposed to pop up in the middle of nowhere. All the star systems in the galaxy were registered into the Republic network.

So what was a star system that didn't show up on any of the maps doing here?

Dash went though the map again, and finally gave up. This was weird.

"Leebo, what can you tell me about that system?" Dash asked.

"Hang on sir, I am retrieving the data now" Leebo said, and soon a few beeps and clicks were heard.

"It is a singular, small sized star that still appears to be young, orbited by a planet with a moon. Judging by the size, I'd have to say it is about the size of Naboo. No further information is available at this range".

Now Dash was purely flummoxed. No way was there a chance that they could have arrived at Naboo. That was on the other side of the galaxy. This warranted an investigation. He would also land the ship and repair it as well. That would be striking two nerfs with one blaster bolt.

"Set course for that planet, and update me with more information as we get closer to it" Dash ordered.

"I copy" Leebo beeped, and the _Outrider_ slowly but surely turned towards a small light that outshone the others.

It took nearly fifteen minutes before Dash could make out the planet with its small orbiting moon and its giant parent sun. The sun seemed to be a yellow star, still quite young, while as they got closer Dash could make out more details on the planet.

"Sir, I have attained more information" Leebo's voice rang in. "The moon itself is nothing but barren rock and dust, with nothing of interest on it. The planet, however, is vastly different. It is, coincidentally, similar to Naboo in terms of climate, but only in certain areas. Up near the northern pole and down near the southern, the weather seems to be blizzards and ice, just like Hoth, while in the middle it seems more desert like, akin to Tatooine. There is also a black spot south of the desert areas, but I'm not sure what it could be. Green landscapes cover the areas north of the desert".

Dash pondered for a moment. He wanted to land on that planet and lay low for some time before he took off again for his comrades. But a part of him was also curious to see what the planet held. What kind of aliens lived there? Were they dangerous? Surely, this planet didn't seem as if it had seen much of the rest of the galaxy. Who knows what kind of technology they were capable of – if there were even any there at all.

Dash looked over the scanner once again, which gave him a close-up view of the planet. They were approaching it from the other side of the star, which put them on course with the darker side of the planet. The icy parts were up north and south, while down near the middle of the planet there were also desert areas. Below the desert regions, there were some patches of green landscape, just like Naboo. However, there seemed to be more of them above the desert area, just north of a mountain range dividing the two very different landscapes. In the green areas, there also seemed to be a lot of forests and mountain peaks, as well as lakes and rivers. There seemed to be some kind of life down there judging by the various urban areas that dotted the landscape on the green sections, but the scanners couldn't give a clearer view on them. Down south, there was indeed an area covered in black as dark as the space around them. He looked over the scanner a few more times before deciding his course of action.

"Leebo" he called.

"Yes, sir?" came the answer.

"Fly the ship down to these co-ordinates, in the forest just northwest of this town here" he pointed at the northern green area, at a medium sized village which was in the shadow of an incredibly tall mountain, which also seemed to have some kind of city on there. "Fly around the village from the south and west to avoid detection. Try to keep the ship engines at minimum volume, as well, so that no one hears us. We don't know if the indigenous population is like those Tuskens. I'd best not take any chances for now. In the meantime, I'll head back to the engine and assess the damage there".

"Yes sir, plotting course now" Leebo acknowledged.

Dash sighed again. This had been one hell of a day, and had just gotten much more interesting.

As the planet loomed into view, his eye moved rapidly, taking in all details on this new mysterious orb. Blue, green, purple, yellow…all the colors were there. While they were getting closer, Dash was suddenly struck by a strange feeling: that there was something a bit off about this planet. Something that was unlike anything he felt before.

He shook it off, though. The day had taken its toll on him. All he needed to do was rest as soon as the _Outrider_ touched solid ground, and then he would be able to focus on more pressing matters.

But first things first, the engine.

Dash slowly got up from his seat, still shaking from his less-than-fun roller-coaster ride, and slowly made his way to the main hold, which was right next to the engine room. There he would grab a quick bite to restore some energy in him before going in to check on the machines.

His mind was filled with a billion questions – not the least of which what he was supposed to expect down below.


	3. Chapter 2 – The Fist Awakens

Silence filled the bridge.

The officers at the monitors, the scanner technicians, the engineers at the electronic systems, the lieutenants that usually barked orders at their subordinates to do their jobs, all were silent. The only sounds to be heard were the low humming of the ship and the occasional bleeping of signals from the monitors.

All had just observed what had happened nearby.

And all had discovered what the combatants had discovered.

Admiral Dullan looked at the monitor screens, his face completely neutral. His emotions, however, were different.

He was a human being, after all. But he had seen a lot. He had trained himself to be calm and straightforward in matters of stress and tension, and at most, in times of panic and chaos. He could control his facial expressions and his physical reaction to what was going on. His body was almost like a machine, except it retained the emotions and mentality of common human beings. One thing he could not control, however, owing to his humanity, was emotion itself.

And he could not control his surprise at what he witnessed.

To summarize it very simply: two vessels had hypered into the system. One was clearly pursuing the other, which was unaware of the other's existence nearby. The first ship, which appeared to be an ancient Firespray patrol ship, opened fire at the unsuspecting vessel, which was a YT-2400 light Corellian freighter. The freighter, however, responded quickly, pulling back and forcing the Firespray to fly right past it. However, it appeared the pilot was expecting that, and the small ship looped around and continued firing. Just as it looked as though the freighter was a goner, it stopped and the Firespray once again overshot it, subjecting it to a torrent of laserfire from the more heavily armed ship. Seconds later, however, there was a bright-blue explosion and both vessels were thrown away from each other, both spinning out of control, both intact but seriously damaged. It had taken mere minutes for the fight to finish, yet the intensity of it was almost par to that of several battles Dullan had fought in before. It was nearly the storm he had wanted.

He put his wishes out of his mind for now, though, and focused on something more important.

When the freighter was flung away by the explosion, it had spun onwards towards what was once a black part of space. At some point in this spinning, however, the black patch of space melted away to reveal what appeared to be a bright light. After a few seconds, the scanners confirmed to Dullan what he least expected.

It was a star system. One that they had no idea existed.

One that was hidden until the freighter spun right into the blackness.

Dullan was, to say the least, mystified. He had plainly made sure that there would be no star systems nearby whatsoever when he decided to settle with the crew here. The only times they would reveal themselves to an unfortunate planet was to overtake and ransack it very quickly for supplies, and then move on. They made perfectly sure the Republic wouldn't investigate the mysterious destruction of the planet surface, from attacking obscure planets that wouldn't draw their attention to moving in faster than lightning, descending down on the helpless planet before they could look up and see the fleet blockading the planet.

Now, however, there was no need for a resupply raid, so the fleet stayed as far away from inhabited areas as possible.

But how did this star system come up?

Dullan sighed. A long sigh. This day had become interesting all of a sudden. And he was just getting used to routine.

For the first time in a long time, he turned and faced the bridge. He usually never had to leave the bridge, let alone turn from his spot at the front, unless he had to eat, sleep, or use the 'fresher. And this caught the eye of many on board, who looked at him with the same face of surprise that they displayed from the light-show outside.

And slowly, he began to walk.

One. Two. One. Two. His footsteps sounded off in the hallway as he marched across the bridge and to the back, leaving the empty space behind to be looked upon another day.

He couldn't let something like this go without telling his superior. This was what he was dreading. But it was something he would do regardless.

One. Two.

Louder than any bleeping noise, louder than the slow snoring of the sleeping vessel, louder than the whispers of the surprised officers, Dullan's footsteps continued to sound off as he reached the rear part of the bridge and entered the rest of the command and control section of the ship.

He strode along, ignoring astonished looks from other officers (who had never known their admiral to be marching along this part of the ship at a time like this) and made his way to one particular door. It was absolutely black, divided by the middle to denote that the door would split in two upon the arrival of someone important: someone like Dullan. On the door was a giant hand colored black holding a circle with a six-toothed gear, which had a six pointed star in the middle.

The symbol of the old Galactic Empire, now in the grasp of the Black Hand. This was their symbol now. One that would be remembered for a thousand years. The Empire failed to hold up for that time. But the memory of such times would.

Dullan took a deep breath. He was about to do what other officers on the ship were absolutely terrified to even think about. And he was about to do it while only breaking a minor sweat. That was what separated him from the others onboard: he was willing to do his duty, regardless of how life-threatening it was. And he would do it while keeping that steady face of his. It was something he was starting to be proud of.

He extended his hand and pressed several buttons on the control panel next to the door, reached to his pocket and took out a card, then inserted the card into a slot next to the buttons.

Time stretched on as the machine read through his identification and relayed the information to the approval section of its programming. Bleep bleep. A green light then blinked, and Dullan withdrew the card.

Acknowledged. Permission granted.

The door clunked and groaned, then silence. The entire room sat unmoving. Even the sweat on Dullan's forehead seemed to stand still.

The door then broke in two, and began to move. Steam whistled out as the doors slid apart to present to him the darkness in front.

He waited. And waited. The doors continued to move, growling all the time, as if warning him what the cost would be for one unneeded word. The steam continued to blast out from the mechanism, almost never-ending.

And it stopped. Both doors opened up completely, exposing the room ahead. The room was once again filled with dead air.

Without hesitation, Dullan moved forward and entered the dark room.

As soon as he put his second foot inside, the doors began to slide shut. He didn't panic. This always happened. For any other officer, the doors closing would mean not only his only exit route being shut off, but possibly any chance of survival from the encounter, as well. Dullan, though, knew better. He kept moving.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.

Six steps. And he stopped.

The doors continued to grind on, ever so slowly, until finally a small strip of light was left. And that, too, was snuffed out by the giant closing walls as darkness consumed the room.

Absolute silence was all that could be heard now.

Dullan silently counted to ten in his head. Very slowly. He knew what was to happen next.

_Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven._

The calmness stretched on. Despite the fact that it was all he ever heard for years, this kind of silence seemed blissful for some reason. It had the feeling of something to look forward to.

_Six. Five. Four. Three._

He kept his position, quietly waiting.

_Two. One._

The silence in the air and the blackness surrounding him were suddenly punctured by the creaky sound of machines moving and a new light that opened up very slowly in front of him but continued to expand. The light exploded in his face, with all his response being to squint his eyes slightly at the expected-to-experience but unexpected-to-eyes change of events. The egg capsule in front of him slowly began to open, rising up like a snake preparing to counter his predator.

Within seconds, the machine opened up completely, and all that could be heard now was the spontaneous hiss of the machine letting off steam. Light shone brilliantly from the cracked egg, keeping the admiral's eyes half closed.

The man within the egg rose. A dark-silver mechanism descended from above and attached itself to his unseen face. Three arms locked itself around the back of the man's head. The machine then rose again, and the man turned.

Before the accident, you didn't expect much from Darth Malum. After the accident, looking at him would get you unsettled a bit. All you had to do was look at his eyes or hear him speak (or, hopefully not, a combination of both), and you would definitely be scared.

One half of his face was pale and emotionless, with shoulder-length jet-black hair running down to his neck. The other half of his face was horribly burnt, with melted skin replacing his hair and part of his face, and his eyelid scarred and his cheek deformed. His eyes were still intact, and they were as black as his hair, as black as the abyss through which they were traveling. The dark-chrome breather that covered his nose and mouth ran secured behind his head from both sides and above, attaching it securely to his head. He wore a heavy pitch-black cloak that seemed to be fashioned from darkness itself, and even if he wasn't standing above Dullan he stood imposingly tall, usually silencing anyone who encountered him without even trying.

Dullan, who had worked with this man for years, was not that kind of person. He was used to this. But regardless of how long he worked with the man, it didn't increase his sense of friendship to the person. The man was a walking void – emotionless, remorseless. Sith.

Dullan bent his right knee and his head down, and kept going until his left knee had hit the floor, and stayed there, unmoving.

There was an extended, uneasy silence. Yet Dullan held.

"Admiral Dullan" came a deep and steady voice, made mechanized by the breathing device installed onto him.

"My lord" Dullan replied.

"Rise".

Quietly, Dullan raised himself to his previous standing position with his hands clasped behind his back, staring straight ahead, waiting for the mechanical speech to announce itself again.

Silence once again filled the gap between them. Malum liked to take his time when asking questions. The silence would unsettle the man being questioned, which would increase his fear of the Dark Lord. Again, Dullan was used to this.

"You found something".

Dullan had to exert some effort in order to blurt out "How did you know?" at his superior, but he was sure that the thought had crossed his mind, and that the Sith had seen it being thought. Now Dullan was in for it.

"I have felt a disturbance in the Force" came the explanation. "Mere minutes ago, in fact. Something that shouldn't be existing does, in fact, exist. You are here to explain?"

"Yes" Dullan said without pause, and relieved that the Dark Lord didn't lose his temper at what would generally be considered 'words of insubordination). "I have come to you to inform you of something that we have just witnessed occur in view of our fleet just now".

The Admiral was sure that the Sith Lord knew exactly what had happened. But he decided to explain it anyway. His superior's silence prompted Dullan to speak.

"Approximately twelve standard minutes ago, two ships intercepted each other in front of our fleet. We activated our cloaking devices and scanner jammers before the ships entered realspace, to avoid detection. Both ships soon flew out of control following an explosion, but one of the ships apparently uncovered-"

"A hidden star system" Malum finished for him. Dullan remained quiet. He wanted to hear the Lord's take on this.

"That was what I have sensed" Malum continued. "There is something about this system. Something…powerful".

Dullan continued to hold his silence. Although he wanted to know what his next orders were, he thought it was best for him to keep his mouth shut until Malum finished, and then he would get his orders. Patience usually helped, and it was something that he was trained at. He had been exercising it for years anyway.

"What about the vessels that fought? What happened to them?"

"They were thrown out of control and away from each other following the explosion" came Dullan's response. "I doubt they'll be able to repair their crippled ships efficiently, especially so far away from proper civilization and suffering extensive damage."

Another moment of silence.

"Well done, Admiral" Malum spoke out.

Now this was quite unexpected. Malum praising him. That almost never happened.

Dullan cleared his throat. "With all due respect, my Lord, why so?"

There was a small stretch of silence.

"You shall see, Grand Admiral" came his voice. "I have sensed this planet's naivety through the Force, one that overwhelms almost any other planet we have come across. I believe with this planet firmly in our hands, we can finally have the strength to overcome both the usurpers of the Rebellion and the traitors of the Remnant."

Dullan was confused. Of all planets to use as a staging point, _this_ one had to be it?

He cleared his throat, but before he could speak, the Dark Lord interrupted him.

"There is something hidden within this planet. Something that is powerful in the Force. You may remember that it was the power of the Force that destroyed two Death Stars and crippled both the Old Republic and the Empire. If we could harness this strange power, we could use it for our own purposes. And it would serve us well".

Dullan had the answer to one of his questions. But not the other. This time, however, Malum let him speak.

"How do you propose we occupy the planet? We may inadvertently destroy the power source before we can use it."

"That is why I have decided to use the Spider".

Dullan opened his mouth, and then closed it immediately. The Spider.

"I am sure, that after so long a time of not being used, the Spider will be most pleased to be put into action. All it will do is report to us intelligence from down below, posing as an alien representative of the Empire. The foolish natives below will certainly fall for it. After a short period of time, we will receive the information we need, and use it to launch our invasion".

Dullan had nothing to complain of this plan, except for a feeling at the back of his mind that this plan could fail easily.

"The Spider can fool the populace very easily. They are very simple minded and almost utopian in nature. Tricking them and conquering them will not be difficult at all".

So there it was. The entire plan, thought up within seconds. Every single part of the plan, laid out to perfection. And there was an actual possibility for it to work, too. The only other part was-

"What about the fleet, my Lord?" Dullan questioned.

"Keep the planet within view of the fleet, but keep the cloaking devices and jammers on. When I give the signal, you will blockade the planet with all the ships. It will be when our invasion starts".

Dullan nodded. "Yes sir".

"Now, go. We have a storm awaiting us, Admiral".

* * *

The Admiral wheeled about on his foot, and stood. The doors then whistled and whined as they separated, with steam blasting out of the exhaust pipes. Within seconds, the doors were open, and Admiral Dullan walked through the light in the doorway until he was engulfed by it. As soon as he was out, the doors began to slide shut once again until they shut off the light completely.

The Sith Lord stay still, long after the Admiral left. Still standing.

One quote permeated his mind.

_Palpatine's legacy shall endure._

It seemed like an eon that Palpatine had found his recruit in the wastelands of Korriban, abandoned by an uncaring family. It felt like millennia since his harsh training to be a new Sith Lord, one that would eventually help bring ruin to the galaxy and the Jedi. It felt like centuries since the disaster on the _Dark Prince_, where the fleet was almost brought to ruin and his body nearly burnt. If it wasn't for the Admiral, he would have been turned to ash, like the ship. He owed him nothing, however. Dullan was an expendable tool for his own ends, just like everyone else on the ship.

Just like all the stormtroopers, officers, officials, guards, pilots of the Galactic Empire.

All they were to Palpatine were toys, to be used for his own purposes.

And like the biological robots that they were, his subordinates obeyed. Regardless if they were brilliant geniuses like Thrawn or Isard, or tremendous idiots like Admiral Motti, they were all easily disposable.

And now he knew exactly how and where to use them.

He turned and thumbed the control panel, establishing a connection with his agent, the Spider. The Spider was expendable as well, just like any other soldier. The one difference between the average soldier and the Spider, however, was that the Spider excelled at its special job. Malum could easily find another agent, but he could not find another Spider. The loyalty and expertise granted to him from that one agent was worth a legion of stormtroopers. And Malum knew whether to dispose of something or not.

The screen flickered and glimmered, with static emanating from the machine. Malum waited.

Soon enough, the screen was replaced by a three-part body with eight protruding legs. A voice announced itself from the machine, loud and clear.

"I am yours to serve, my Lord".

"Spider" Malum said quietly. "Your days of waiting end now. I have a task for you. One that requires your services".

"Speak, my Lord, and it shall be done".

Under the breathalyzer, for the first time in years, Malum's deformed lips curled upwards into a smile.

_Palpatine's legacy shall endure._

* * *

Ponies will come in next chapter! (Which is a mighty long one, took me hours to write it out).

Hope you enjoy it! Cheers!


	4. Chapter 3 –Just Another Day at Ponyville

_**16 Equestrian Hours Earlier.**_

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Stillness gave way to sound. The incessant ticking.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Out of nowhere, a loud ringing sounded off, startling the young unicorn out of bed. A hoof came down on the alarm clock, silencing it with a single gesture.

Twilight Sparkle groaned and rubbed her eyes, then stood out of bed and walked over to the window, opening the curtains.

Celestia's gaze blared through the open window, bathing the room in radiant sunlight. The brilliant light and warmth that hit her shook Twilight's senses, and she became more oriented to the new day. She smiled happily.

It was an honor, being the personal student of the pony directly responsible for the sunlight she was immersed in currently. Princess Celestia was more than just her teacher, more than just the ruler of Equestria to Twilight. Celestia was almost like her mother figure. Her mentor. Twilight cherished the Princess as much as she did her friends. In fact, if it wasn't for Celestia, Twilight would never have met her friends. She would never have gone out of her solitary shell. She would just have been alone, most of her life. Before she met them, she couldn't imagine living with them. After she met them, she couldn't imagine living without them. Her friendship with them came to her as naturally as breathing did.

And speaking of breathing, Twilight took a deep smell. There was something cooking in the kitchen. Something good.

That sparked her curiosity. Her loyal assistant, Spike, rarely woke up at morning early, let alone made breakfast by himself. Despite his general sleepiness (he _was_ a baby dragon, after all), Twilight couldn't find a more dependable assistant anywhere else. Even then, she wondered what she was up to.

First things first, however. The usual morning routine.

She walked up to the mirror in her room, which was mounted on a dresser with various objects piled on it. She looked at it carefully before shaking her head. _This mess simply won't do_.

The horn atop her head, surrounded by a purple mane with a pinkish stripe down the middle, began to glow. As soon as that had happened, the objects on her dresser (combs, papers, a tissue box, and various other items) were surrounded by the same purplish aura. The items then began to move, hover up and rearrange themselves into their organized places. With the horn, she began to comb the hair forward, and then brought it back to her tail, brushing it gently but firmly, in order for it to be straight. Within seconds, her tail, the same color as her mane with the same stripe, was perfectly smoothed out to match her mane. Satisfied, Twilight returned her comb back to its place, and began to walk to the washroom.

She entered the white room and turned on the faucet, reaching down to splash water on her face to further awaken her. She then brought out her toothbrush and some toothpaste, and began the usual routine of brushing her teeth.

When that was done, she walked out, intending to go down the stairs. The smell, however, caught up with her, and she paused for a second. She sniffed deeply and wondrously, taking in the delicious aroma.

She recognized the smell. _Pancakes!_

She instantly began to trot downstairs, wanting to see Spike work on it personally. After arriving at the bottom of the stairs in the middle of the library, she slowly began to sneak up to the kitchen door and gently pushed it open.

Peeking through, she saw Spike clearly. He was standing at the oven on a stool, with his back towards the door. He was wearing one of those weird chef hats that looked like muffins, and what appeared to be an apron. He also held a spatula in his hand, and was apparently maneuvering the frying pan with his left hand. On his right, on the table, was a plate stacked about half his height with freshly made pancakes.

Twilight's mouth began to water. The food looked delicious from across the room. She couldn't wait to start eating Spike's breakfast. He had certainly outdone himself this time.

She pushed the door open, which creaked slightly. Spike's ears perked up and he turned around.

"Oh, 'morning, Twi!" the baby dragon exclaimed happily. "Glad to see you up!"

"Thanks, Spike" she replied with a small smile. "Smells good. What are you cooking?"

"Some pancakes with the help of a recipe Pinkie Pie got for me the other day" Spike answered. "What do you think?"

"They smell great!" Twilight said, once again taking in the wonderful smell. "You forgot to set the table, though" she pointed out.

Spike looked behind him at the empty table and chuckled embarrassedly "He he…oops".

Twilight shook her head with a reassuring smile "Don't worry about it, I'll set it up. You just keep focusing on the breakfast" she said with a wink.

Spike grinned "Sure!"

Twilight chuckled and put her magic to work. First, the tablecloth, then the mats, then two plates, two forks and two knives, two cups, two napkins. One by one, they assorted themselves on the table in an organized fashion. She then opened the fridge with her magic and brought up a carton of orange juice, which she poured into the cups, and a small block of butter, which she put on a small plate to put on the side. She then opened the cabinet and took out some syrup, and put that on the table too.

A small hoot above her alerted her for a second, and Twilight looked up to see her pet owl, Owloysius, sitting at the top of the cabinet, staring down.

"Good morning, Owloysius" she greeted, to which the owl hooted as a form of response. She took it as a greeting similar to hers. Although she wasn't one to understand animal talk (it was usually Fluttershy she went to for that) she and Owloysius usually understood one another. She wouldn't forget the time when Spike went paranoid about the bird. It took quite a mess later for them to make up to one another and be friends, but at least it happened.

"Done!" Spike announced, flipping the last of the pancakes onto the already sizable stack on the plate.

"Excellent!" Twilight said happily, and she levitated the plate onto the table. She and Spike got onto a chair each and began to eat.

It was absolutely delicious, Twilight thought. The moist, warm pancakes mixed in with the cool syrup really got her mouth watering even more, and it wasn't long until the entire stack was finished. Twilight washed it down with the cup of orange juice as Spike burped contently.

"Sorry" he said sheepishly, patting his mouth with the napkin.

"It's alright, Spike" she said reassuringly. "I don't blame you much, these pancakes were just outstanding!"

"You really think so?" Spike said, beaming.

"Yep! I think you should do more of these from now on!" Twilight answered.

"Awesome! Thanks!" came the more-than-happy response.

She grinned "So anyways, Spike, what's on our to-do list for today?"

"I don't know, let's go check" he said.

Twilight nodded, and used her magic to levitate all the dirty dishes into the wash. That was one thing on the list to do, but she could do it later. Right now, she had to see what had to be done.

They both walked together to the library, and Spike opened the notebook lying on the table. He poured through it and suddenly said.

"There we are! Okay…" he read slowly "Wake up, eat breakfast, check list of things to do"

"Check, check, check" she sounded off.

"Check up on Rarity's boutique, help Applejack with applebucking, visit Fluttershy, ask Rainbow Dash about the weather, see Pinkie Pie at the Sugarcube Corner."

Twilight paused. That was quite the workload for the day. Forget the dishes, if she had to get all this done today she might as well do the dishwashing tomorrow.

"Wow…" she said shortly. "That's quite a lot of things to do".

"Yep" said Spike.

"Well, we aren't getting anything done by just sitting around. Let's get to business!" she said enthusiastically, as she trotted out of the library room with Spike in tow.

Her passion may be books and knowledge, but what kept her going each day was knowing that her friends were out there, that she could see them and be with them, that they existed. That was something that she was immensely grateful for, maybe even more than books. True, the first time she had met them, things were a bit awkward. She was extremely business-like and did her best to stay away from social life. She always prioritized her books and studying over other ponies. But the night she came to Ponyville was the night that changed her life – for the better. And she wouldn't have it any other way. She really couldn't have imagined herself without her friends now.

Twilight and Spike had left the house just in time to see a gray blonde-maned pegasus outside with a blue hat and shirt and a brown satchel, opening the mailbox – on the wrong end.

"Derpy!" Twilight said, almost with a laugh. "It's the wrong end!"

The pegasus turned around to the source of the voice. Although both eyes were staring off in different directions, Twilight was certain that she was looking at her.

"Oh, hey, Twilight!" Derpy Hooves said happily, turning around to say hello and inadvertently bumping into the mailbox.

"Take it easy, Derpy" Twilight chuckled. "What have you got for me?"

"Just a few of the usual stuff" Derpy said happily "Here ya go!" she handed Twilight some brochures and the morning newspaper.

"Thanks" Twilight said, smiling. Derpy may be ridiculously clumsy sometimes, but you couldn't find a better mailmare anywhere else. And that was saying something.

"Anytime, Twilight!" Derpy said, in her usual ditzy voice. She then checked her watch and her expression turned to confusion.

"Uh-oh, I'm running late. I have to go now!" She waved goodbye and flew off, nearly knocking over the mailbox on her way. Twilight chuckled while she levitated the mail into the mailbox. She would pick them up later.

"Three bits say she was delayed trying to open the mailbox" Spike said, although he was smiling too.

"Spike!" Twilight berated him, but suppressed the urge to laugh. She was pretty sure that was the case. "Anyways, what's first on our list?"

Somehow, Twilight knew what it was before it came out of Spike's mouth.

"Check up on Rarity's Boutique" Spike announced, with the weird hazy look on his eyes that Twilight knew so well. Twilight shook her head but went onwards cheerfully anyway. In all cases, the Boutique was the closest place nearby, so she might as well go on ahead and finish up with that first.

It was the typical day in Ponyville. Not much seemed to happen. There were the usual ponies walking around, doing their daily work. Fillies played ball with each other, the salespony either worked at stands or in their shops, doing their business, while the other ponies either headed off to work or for breakfast. Twilight trotted about through the streets, greeting one or two of the other ponies on the way, occasionally waving to another. She could feel Spike's growing impatience, and she couldn't blame him that much. She knew he couldn't wait to meet Rarity again.

It didn't take long until they reached the Carousel Boutique, the tall building where Rarity worked in and lived with her sister. When they arrived, Twilight lifted her hoof and knocked on her door twice. There was a shuffling behind the door, the sound of something dropping and a cat meowing furiously, then silence. Twilight then heard hoofsteps approaching the door, a lock clicking, and the door swinging open.

"Twilight Sparkle!" a voice announced. "What a pleasant surprise! Do come in, do come in!"

Twilight grinned and walked inside with Spike following in suit.

Rarity closed the door and beamed at Twilight. "It is so splendid to see you again. How are you?"

Twilight grinned. Sure, Rarity could become a bit of an annoyance sometimes with her incessant whining, but she certainly did have class. And she did know how to work up fine dresses. The best aspect about Rarity that Twilight found, though, was that Rarity was willing to give up anything for her friends. Sacrifice meant a great deal to Rarity, and she was willing to do it. Even if it did mean getting her coat dirty at times, which usually happened (much to her chagrin).

"I'm doing great, actually. I came over to check up on you and see if you needed help with anything."

"Ooh, why that's lovely of you" she said happily. "Although right now, I don't need much help. I AM working on this MARVELOUS dress for a special client, but I do need to get a move on".

"Alrighty then, what do you need help with?"

"Uhmm…" Rarity began, and trailed off.

"Hey Twilight, didn't you have a whole bunch of other things to do?" Spike interrupted.

"Well..." Twilight thought for a second. She would like to help Rarity with the dress, but at the same time, she did have a lot of other tasks to accomplish. Plus, Spike would love to be with Rarity for a bit, and he did deserve a sort of a break as a reward for that wonderful breakfast.

"Hey, Spike, why don't you go on ahead and help Rarity with the dress while I go on and do my other works? I'm sure you two will have fun together" she smiled.

"Oh, wow, really Twi?" exclaimed Spike delightfully. "Thanks!"

"Oh, my, Spike, you ARE a dear fellow" Rarity added, making Spike smile nervously "Thank you so much for letting him help me, Twilight."

Twilight laughed and said "Good luck, you two, and see you later, Spike!"

"Bye, Twi!"

"Goodbye, darling!"

As the door closed behind her, Twilight could have sworn she heard both Rarity and Spike giggle for a second. Part of her was curious enough to consider opening the door and seeing what that was about, but she decided against it. For now, she had work to do and friends to visit. Regardless, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something up involving those two. But she put it aside. She could worry about that later.

_Rarity down, four more to go_, thought Twilight as she paced towards Fluttershy's cottage, her second choice. On the way, her expression softened as she recalled her timid friend. Quiet, reserved, and very shy, Fluttershy was overly affectionate, especially with animal kind. Although she did learn recently (due to pressure from her friends) to be a bit more assertive, she still retained her tender nature – although that would quickly change if you enraged her accidentally. You wouldn't want to be staring into her eyes. But those events were few and far in between, and it didn't detract from her overall warm personality.

In a few minutes time, Twilight came across the familiar view of the cottage just over by the bridge next to a river. Right next to the bridge on the other side of the house was a skinny tree with a few birdhouses at the top, while next to the cottage itself there was a small doghouse. Between the cottage and the bridge was a fence following a pathway that lead to the bridge, while next to the fence there was a small stand with an extra large birdhouse on there, with holes for several birds. On the other side of the pathway, there were flowers of many kinds, ranging from white daisies to yellow tulips to pink roses. On the pathway itself, there appeared to be several rabbits standing about, occasionally hopping from one side to the other, one or two munching on a small carrot or a piece of lettuce. On the side, there was a huge tree, from which she could see squirrels climb up and down branches, chattering and exchanging nuts. Twilight really had to admire Fluttershy for this. She couldn't imagine herself communicating with animals and helping them out. It seemed to be a real chore for her, but for Fluttershy it never seemed to pose a problem. She really did have talent with this.

She headed over the bridge and through the pathway, lifted her hoof as she did with Rarity's boutique, and knocked twice with her hoof.

Nothing happened.

Twilight's eyes narrowed in a confused expression. Fluttershy was almost always at her cottage; she rarely ventured out unless someone asked her. She tried knocking again, with the same results.

"Fluttershy?" She called in. No answer.

Curiosity overtaking her this time, she walked around the cottage to the garden to investigate and found that all the animals were there, sitting around as though nothing special had happened. The rabbits, the dogs, the birds, all of them. They were all just sitting there, minding their own business. Twilight considered for a moment asking the animals where they thought Fluttershy could be. Then she remembered she couldn't speak with them.

Something perked up in the back of her mind. She had the feeling that something was close by. Instinctively, she looked up, and by coincidence, saw the multicolored streak of a rainbow zoom over her head, flying through cloud formations and doing loop-the-loops with relative ease. She instantly recognized the source.

_Rainbow Dash!_

She called out to her pegasi friend "Hey! Rainbow Dash! Over here!"

The figure above paused for an instant, but then turned around and rocketed off faster than before, leaving Twilight alone next to the cottage.

This time, Twilight was genuinely flummoxed. It wasn't typical of Rainbow Dash to run off like that. She wasn't that kind of pony. Sure, brash and very courageous, she was nonetheless the one pony you could depend on if you found yourself in a bad situation. One thing you could count on in terms of Rainbow Dash was that she would never give up on you. That was the kind of attitude Twilight knew from Rainbow and had come to expect of her.

What happened here was, in fact, quite the reverse of that. And it wasn't something that she expected.

Come to think of it, all of her friends so far were acting strange today. Rarity and Spike 'supposedly' planning something out behind her back, Fluttershy not being around her cottage (or maybe not even answering, although Twilight hoped that wasn't the case), and now Rainbow flying off after knowing it was Twilight that called her out. Something was definitely up.

But she decided not to dwell on the situation, and decided to visit Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Seeing as the Sweet Apple Acres were close by, she chose to visit Applejack and see what she was up to, then pass by Pinkie Pie's house on her way home.

She slowly trotted to Applejack's farm, reviewing the day's events over in her head. It was quite unusual of her friends to act this way, and it was one of those things that she couldn't have a concrete explanation for at the moment – even though she knew there was one.

Soon enough, the giant red barn of Sweet Apple Acres came into view. She passed by the apple-strewn gate as she took in the surroundings. To her left, there was a field of assorted vegetables such as corn and carrots growing out next to two barrels and a well. To her right was the chicken coop, within which the chickens were apparently sleeping at this time; there were no loud clucks indicating their moving around. Up ahead, she could see the barn rise over her, strewn with flowers at the windows with a weather vane at the very top. Next to it was a small fenced-off area with bales of hay randomly placed around that area, while a pathway lead to an orange building that rose up nearby. Out on the distance, she could see the great orchards of trees that made the core of Sweet Apple Acres. There, she would definitely find her friend Applejack doing her usual gathering of the apples from the trees, usually by kicking the trunks so hard the fruits would fall into conveniently placed baskets.

While walking over to the orchards, she started to rethink everything again. She started to wonder if Applejack wouldn't start acting weird as well. _I mean, it happened to half my friends so far. What's to say it won't happen with Applejack either?_

_ Because you haven't seen her yet. And why are you so paranoid?_ Popped up a small voice in the back of her head.

Twilight's eyes narrowed. _I'm just using deduction to predict something. That's something I can do, right?_

_ It's something you can do,_ said the voice._ Not something you should, though._

_ Oh really? And why is that?_

_ Calm down, now, Twilight. You really need to stop jumping to conclusions and going crazy. Keep a straight head, and focus. And think about what's logical!_

_ Are you implying this isn't logical?_

_ I'm not just implying it isn't logical. I'm stating clearly that this is bogus thinking. Why would you think your friends are acting weird just because of a few events that rarely happen? It may only be this day. Fluttershy's probably out near the Everfree forest, tending to some poor critter there. Rainbow may have been in an extra hurry. You can't assume everything from just a few isolated events._

Twilight was so lost in her thoughts and concerns for her friends on this unusual day that she didn't pay attention to where she was walking, and she bumped into something orange and yellow.

THUMP!

"Ow, what the hay?"

Twilight shook her head, recovering from the unexpected obstacle, and found herself face-to-face with her friend Applejack.

Applejack at first seemed irritated, looking around to see who had crashed into her, but when her eyes fell on Twilight her hard demeanor softened tremendously.

"Oh, hey Twilight" addressed the Earth Pony courteously, with a warm smile.

"Hey, AJ!" Twilight replied, returning the smile. Upon closer examination, she found out that she had walked into the orchard that Applejack was doing her usual applebucking routine at, judging by the baskets under the trees and the apples strewn around and collected within the baskets. And she had been doing a good job, as usual.

"How's the applebucking?" she asked.

"S'all fine, nearly done." Applejack commented. "Care ta join me fer lunch?"

Twilight opened her mouth to say that she would like to, but she really had to visit Pinkie Pie when her stomach suddenly let out a loud groan. Applejack laughed.

"Looks like yer stomach speaks fer itself. Come on, now, let's be eatin'!" she said humorously.

After a second thought, Twilight agreed. "Sure, why not?"

Applejack grinned eagerly, and in ten minutes, they were outside the farmhouse, eating up on some good old Apple Family foods such as apple pie, caramel apples, apple strudels, and even some cider Applejack managed to procure from a secret spot in the barn.

"We got some loose floorboards there so Ah thought Ah could put 'em to some use and had some cider on there without nopony knowin'...'cept you, fer now" she added, winking. Twilight smiled back. "Ah usually drink 'em when there's nopony 'round. Can't have 'em askin' questions".

"True that" replied Twilight. "Where are Granny Smith and Big Mac?"

"Eh, Big Mac's out buckin' to the west and Granny Smith's havin' 'nother one of her naps" Applejack said.

"What about Applebloom?"

"Ya know, with them Cutie Mark Crusaders. Wonder what they're up to now".

"Me too".

Applejack chuckled, and Twilight joined in. Rainbow may be the most dependable pony around, but Applejack would be a hot contender for that. She could be quite stubborn and quick-tempered, traits she shared with Rainbow Dash. But one thing you could count on with Applejack was her honesty. She would never be the kind of pony to lie or tell out other people's secrets. If there was something you wanted to talk to someone about, but didn't know who, Applejack would most definitely be your first choice. And her honesty would extend beyond boundaries of the norms: once she made a promise, she would do whatever it took to keep it. And no matter how difficult it would be, in the end it would be kept.

They continued eating lunch silently, the birds in the distance chirping and the sporadic bark of Applejack's hound, Winona, piercing the air from time to time. But now, something else came into Twilight's mind.

_Should I tell Applejack? I mean, seeing as she's the most honest and dependable of ponies, I could trust her with what I'm thinking?_

_And make a fool of yourself? Didn't I tell you not to worry too much?_

"Um, Applejack?"

"Yeah, sugarcube?"

"Have you seen anypony else today?"

"Anypony other than you 'n ma family?" Applejack asked.

"Yes" said Twilight. "Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie… have you seen them?"

"Naw, I was here buckin' them trees, remember? Why?"

"Oh, oh yes" Twilight smiled awkwardly, mentally kicking herself for forgetting. "I was asking because they were acting very weird. Rarity didn't talk much when I was over, Rainbow Dash sped off as soon as she saw me, and Fluttershy wasn't answering the door to begin with."

"Huh" said Applejack. "Maybe they were busy? Ye know, Rarity with her dresses, Fluttershy with her animals, RD with…well, flying a lot?" She put on an unconvincing smile.

Twilight's eyes narrowed slightly. Something wasn't right here…

"Besides" Applejack said quickly "maybe they're awful busy. Ya know, Fluttershy could be out by the Everfree forest tendin' t' some poor animal, Rainbow could be…" she trailed off "Ah dunno, but ye can't prejudge, Twi".

"I guess so" she said. "Well, hopefully, they'll finish soon. Need a hoof, by the way?"

"With what? Applebuckin'? Nah, don'tcha worry, sugarcube, I got this. Ahm almost done, anyway" Applejack said politely "But thanks anyhow!"

"Anytime, thanks for the lunch, it was delicious- as always" Twilight complimented.

Applejack beamed. "Aw, shucks".

Twilight smiled "I guess I'm off to Pinkie Pie's now. If you need anything, be sure to ask!"

"You got it, sister!"

Twilight chuckled as she wheeled about and left Sweet Apple Acres, stopping to wave goodbye to Applejack at the gate. "Be sure to say hi to everypony for me!"

"Ah gotcha!" came the reply.

Twilight laughed and trotted away back to Ponyville. After a while, her smile dilapidated into a look of confused suspicion.

She always knew that kind of smile. It was the kind of smile where somepony was hiding something. And this time, she was certain of one thing: that her friends were acting weird, but for a reason. A concrete one. One they were all certain of, but were trying to keep quiet.

Could they be hiding something?

That, Twilight was sure of. There was definitely something up.

But what?

Twilight didn't know, but before she could ponder her question further, she found herself right in front of Sugarcube Corner, right in the middle of Ponyville.

"Wow, I travel fast when I think a lot" she commented, as she knocked on the door and entered.

The bell above the door rung, and two ponies, one yellow, the other blue turned around from their work.

"Oh, Twilight Sparkle!" exclaimed Mrs. Cake.

"What an honor it is!" said Mr. Cake happily.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!" returned Twilight tenderly. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were some of the nicest ponies around, and they were always cheerful. And their food was especially delightful "How are you today?"

"Oh, we're fantastic. We've almost finished baking some good ol' fashioned Sugarcube specials for an important somepony. We've been working on them all day!" said Mr. Cake.

_This was the second time there was a special something for a special pony_, thought Twilight. _First a dress, now some foods. Now if that isn't suspicious…_

"Need any help?" offered Twilight.

"Oh, deary, no, you're much too kind" said Mrs. Cake sweetly. "But we're almost done, anyway".

"Oh" said Twilight, putting on a slightly crestfallen face, which unfortunately went unnoticed. She decided to at least get an answer to _something_. "Is Pinkie Pie around?"

"Now that I come to think of it, where IS Pinkie Pie?" asked Mrs. Cake wonderingly, although Twilight picked up a very remote trace of nervousness in his voice.

"Huh" Mr. Cake thought for a moment. "Funny, she's always with us when preparing foods. You know how she always likes to do that".

"I do" said Twilight. Out of all of her friends' behaviors today, Pinkie Pie's was the most unusual. Pinkie Pie never passed up an opportunity to bake, it being one of her favorite hobbies. From all her friends, Pinkie Pie would probably be both the most fun one to be around with, and the most unusual too. She had the tendency of pulling off some of the weirdest acts that you could think of, and she treated them as absolutely normal. She could predict certain events to happen by physical indication; i.e. her tail twitching would mean something was about to fall. And it never failed. At times, she would stare off into nothing, and when questioned she would mention something about a 'fourth wall' – whether or not she was outside or inside a particular house. But despite all that, Pinkie Pie was always guaranteed to make you laugh, and she regarded it as a personal duty to be friends with almost anypony she could meet. If you ever needed a cheering up or someone positive to be with you for a while, you didn't need to ask, because she would somehow know it and be right beside you before you would blink.

"Well, that's odd" she remarked. Looks like there wasn't much else to do here, then. She looked at the clock on the wall and noticed that it was just about to be five o'clock. _Wow, time really rocketed by here. _"I guess I'm off now, I'd best be returning home. It seems to be getting late. Be sure to say hi to Pinkie for me!"

"Oh, for sure, Twilight Sparkle, don't you worry!" said Mr. Cake out loud.

"Good-bye! Drop again some time!" called Mrs. Cake.

"Don't worry, I will!" Twilight said with a smile before closing the door.

As she left, she felt more and more despondent with every step. _What in Equestria is happening? Did all my friends suddenly hit their heads?_

_Get a grip on yourself, Twilight! Don't think like this!_

_But how else CAN I think, then?_

_Smartly!_

Her mind too consumed by what was happening to her today, she kept on walking until she reached the riverbank and crouched down.

The sun by now was starting to set, coloring the sky a majestic red and orange. The occasional croak of the frog could be heard, while the running water helped soothe her mind. Little birds that flew overhead chirped as they headed to their homes, and fish swimming in the water headed downstream. Other than that, all she heard was calm and quiet.

Twilight looked at her reflection in the water and saw a purple face with a horn, violet eyes, and a dark blue mane with a pink stripe running down the middle. The face also had on it a lot of worry and confusion, as if it was facing a lot of trouble.

_What is happening today?_

_There really is no need to be so worried_, came the voice suddenly. _I mean, sure, your friends have acted weird today, but it was just today. Maybe tomorrow they won't be so odd._

_But how will I know?_

_You won't until tomorrow. But sitting around feeling sad about it won't exactly help, you know._

Twilight sighed. The voice had a point there.

Confidence seeping into her again, Twilight looked up, and saw the last of the sun disappear under the hillsides. From far away, Twilight could see the trees of the Sweet Apple Acres standing motionless as crickets began to ring throughout the night. She stayed at the riverbank, the sky darkening steadily, until the moon became the brightest object in the sky, surrounded by the many stars that usually populated the night skies. Princess Luna always did the most amazing night scenery Twilight could imagine. She looked up at the moon, which was round and illuminated the vista surrounding the lone unicorn.

It seemed like only a month ago that Twilight and her friends had freed Luna from the clutches of Nightmare Moon, redeeming her and bringing her back to Celestia. It seemed like weeks since Twilight had fought and defeated the draconequus Discord, imprisoning him in stone after he turned Ponyville (almost literally) upside down. And it only seemed like days ever since the Changeling's infiltration and the wedding fiasco, and since the resurrection of the Crystal Empire. It seemed like only hours since she rescued the Cutie Mark Crusaders from the clutches of the vengeful Changeling Queen.

Throughout all these debacles, she would not have been able to pull through had it been for the very friends she was suspicious of. And now guilt was starting to build up within her.

_Okay, enough with the guilt trips. You felt sad for a few minutes, but the day is almost over. There's no need for you to feel upset with yourself over a few emotions that dissipated quickly. Tomorrow, you'll be able to see them, and you won't have to worry about anything anymore._

Twilight nodded into the river, and her other self nodded back.

_Alright, time to go home now. I'll bet Spike is worried sick of you._

She nodded again, and stood up. Apart from the river gurgling along, the wind slowly whispering by, and the intermittent chirp of a bird or the croak of a frog, there was silence.

She turned around and returned to Ponyville, and continued walking on towards her home. With every step she took, confidence continued to fill her up bit by bit. _You're right_, she thought to herself. _This is today. Tomorrow will definitely be different. And it might even be better. Who knows what will happen?_

_You need to build up that confidence thing of yours, you know. You're smart, sociable, and friendly, but your confidence gets eroded very quickly._

_How do you think I should fix that, then?_

_You build your confidence like a sandcastle. Gentle, easy to build, but easy to break down too. You need to build it like Canterlot itself. Strong, tough, majestic. Strong castles are hard to destroy. So is hardened confidence._

Fully invigorated, she continued walking by, seeing the various ponies close off their doors and turn off their lights, preparing for the good night's sleep ahead of them. She felt as if she was ready to do the same, but she thought of hitting up a few books first before so. She still felt a bit filled with energy. So she kept pacing onwards until she finally reached the treehouse she called home.

Which confused her for a second because all the lights were off. _Maybe Spike had slept early?_ It was possible, seeing how tired he was during the day (except when he was with Rarity, of course).

_Looks like the weirdness of the day hasn't ended yet. I wonder what could be going on._

She went over, and opened the door to total darkness.

The tension in the room was suddenly thickened, to the point that you could almost slice it with a knife. She felt unsettled.

She closed the door and switched on the light.

"SURPRISE!"

"AARGH!"

Twilight screamed and jumped back, only for her eyes to be cast across the room.

There was Pinkie Pie, blaring out a party horn, grinning from ear to ear and hopping like mad. There was Fluttershy, standing out to the side of the room but smiling nonetheless. There was Rainbow Dash, hovering above them all, throwing confetti everywhere. There was Rarity, still keeping her cool but beaming all the same. There was Applejack, standing tall and sporting her Stetson with a party hat on top.

As Twilight scanned the room, she began to recognize more faces: Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Spike, Scootaloo, the Mayor, Zecora; even Derpy Hooves was hovering about giving her goofiest smile ever.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" they all cheered loudly.

All thought of a strange day, any feeling of uncertainty and confusion, all sense of sadness vanished from within her instantly, replaced by a growing feeling of absolute happiness.

"You...you..." stammered Twilight.

"OF COURSE WE WOULD REMEMBER, SILLY" exclaimed Pinkie Pie excitedly, jumping about higher than usual.

"What, did you think we were avoiding you or something the whole day?" called out Rainbow Dash. "We were just trying to hide from ya so we could surprise you when you came back home!"

"And it worked" said Fluttershy timidly but with a smile all the same.

"Yep yep!" proclaimed Pinkie Pie. "Me and Mr. and Mrs. Cake were busy doing the cakes, and when you came, I was upstairs putting the final touches, and I didn't come down because I didn't want to be distracted, you know I was behind schedule, and-"

"I was with Rainbow Dash helping with the decorations" interjected Fluttershy. "We were doing well, but then we found out that we were missing glitter, so Rainbow Dash went flying off to Zecora to find some."

"Yeah, that's when you called out to me, but I wasn't gonna spoil anything!" Rainbow Dash winked.

Twilight was still flabbergasted "You guys…did this…all…for me?"

"For you!" They all announced together.

Twilight's shocked expression transformed into one of extreme ecstasy. She couldn't believe it. All this day, she was busy fretting over some nonsense, and when she came back home, this happened. She still couldn't believe it.

"Yes indeed!" called out Rarity. "Pinkie Pie, would you mind to please bring up the cake?"

"Of course not!" Pinkie Pie responded, bringing out a large box and placing it on the table, which was already overflowing with cupcakes, muffins, doughnuts, and other candies and sweets. She then undid the ribbon tying and opened it up.

Inside was one of the greatest cakes Twilight had ever seen, round in shape with chocolate shavings on the sides, eight strawberries placed on whipped cream surrounding the candle at the center, while icing spelled out 'Happy Birthday, Twilight Sparkle!' right below the candle.

Twilight, in a state of complete excitement, breathed in hard and gusted out a mighty breath that blew the candle out. Everypony cheered even more.

"TIME TO EAT!" hollered Pinkie Pie, and everypony dove into the food.

"Happy birthday, Twilight Sparkle my friend" said Zecora graciously, through a helping of doughnuts "I hope your splendid days may never end".

"Happy birthday, Twilight!" piped up the Cutie Mark Crusaders, jumping up and down as if they tried to emulate Pinkie Pie.

"Happy birthday, Twilight-oops!" Derpy said loudly, only to accidentally push over a soda bottle while trying to pick up a muffin. Although Rainbow Dash shot her an annoyed look, Twilight was too busy being happy to care.

"You…guys, you really shouldn't have done this…" she said elatedly.

"Oh, pooh, it's nothing at all" said Rarity, waving her hoof aside. "You are our dearest friend, after all".

"Yes, and a mighty good citizen too, may I add" coupled the Mayor, holding a cupcake in her hoof. "We owe you everything, Twilight".

"Oh, it's nothing, really" said Twilight, blushing furiously.

"Nothing?" said Rainbow Dash. "You helped save Equestria four times! If it wasn't for you, who knows what would have happened to us?"

"Well, I can't take all the credit for it" admitted Twilight, nodding to her friends.

"Ah, hooey, we wouldn't be nothin' without ya" berated Applejack. "Remember, yer the most important element of ours!"

"Elusive" corrected Twilight.

"Same hay" shrugged Applejack.

"Oh, by the way, Twilight, wanna see our present?" said Spike from below.

"Present? What present?" asked Twilight confusingly.

Rarity winked to Spike, and together they brought out a box that was hidden under the table and nudged it towards Twilight expectantly.

"Wh-what's this?"

"I dunno, Twi, maybe you should open it?" said Spike with a huge smile on his face.

Twilight used her horn to untie and unwrap the box. When she opened it, her jaw dropped in shock.

She had been gifted what she could describe as one of the most beautiful dresses she had ever seen in Equestria. It was blue, with white edges, a magenta ribbon in the front, and ornated with gems and gold. She looked up at Rarity and Spike.

"You…both did this?"

The duo nodded anxiously.

Twilight was now at an almost total loss for words "I…I don't know what to say…"

"Oh, dear" chuckled Rarity "a simple 'thank you' would suffice".

Everypony laughed, but then Spike, retched, looked away, and belched loudly, flames erupting out of his mouth.

They all stared at him.

"Oops" he said, with a guilty smile "sorry".

"Good thing you didn't burn the dress, Spike" giggled Fluttershy.

"Yeah, or else Rarity woulda pounded ya good" added Applejack.

"Hey look, it's a message!" said Rainbow Dash out loud.

Twilight looked, and sure enough, there was a familiar looking scroll with a green ribbon tying it up. She floated the scroll over to her, untied it, opened it up, and read aloud.

_My dearest student._

_ I would like to extend my sincerest apologies to you for not being able to attend your surprise birthday party, as would Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, and Shining Armor as well, seeing as we had some business to attend to. However, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very happy birthday, and may your deepest wishes come true. I have always been proud of you, my greatest disciple, and I know you will never fail me._

_ With regards._

_ Princess Celestia, on behalf of Shining Armor and Princesses Luna and Cadence as well._

Twilight had already been overflowing with jubilation at what had transpired so far, but this was the one surprise that had sparked out tears in her eyes.

"You are truly my best friends" she sobbed "_ever!_" and jumped onto Rarity and Applejack for a massive hug. They were soon joined by Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Spike, and Rainbow Dash, while everypony else let out a long "awwww".

"Seriously, you guys, I couldn't have asked for more! Tonight is the best night in my whole life!" Twilight said happily.

Her friends returned the hug intensely, and held it there. Twilight' heart was filled with emotion. She couldn't describe properly how joyful she was at today's surprise. All doubt in her mind ceased to exist; now, only confidence and happiness were present in her state of mind.

"All right, y'all!" came a loud voice, and everypony's head turned. On a strange mechanical table sat a white unicorn with spiky blue hair and giant purple-tinted sunglasses. "Time for some music!"

The room cheered, and soon a tune pumped in, beating at a steady rhythmetic pace.

"Awesome!" Rainbow called out.

Twilight wasn't much of a dancer, but she was happy all the same. While some of the ponies shook down to the beat on the floor, she walked around to see some of the ponies who had come by to see her at this occasion.

The first one she saw was a cyan flash as Rainbow Dash jumped down in front of her.

"Hey, look Twilight, I'm really sorry about flying off today when you called" she said, scratching the back of her head. "I think I gave you quite the scare, didn't I?"

Twilight chuckled "Don't you worry about it a single bit, Rainbow. Did you have real trouble finding the glitter?"

"No, in fact it was quite easy" Rainbow said, lightening up from Twilight's fast forgiveness. "The only thing I was really concerned about was that you didn't show up earlier. I thought for a second we had to go out and get you!"

Twilight remembered her stay at the riverside. It seemed like a distant memory now, especially after what her friends had done for her. "Well, I showed up at the end, didn't I?" She said with a grin.

"Yep you did! Better late than never, I suppose"

Both ponies laughed as everypony continued their dance routine.

"Read any good books lately, Rainbow?"

"Yeah, I recently got the new Daring Do book shipped in from Vanhoover. Signed personally by the author!" Rainbow said with a wide smile.

"Oh, you did?" Twilight said in a surprised voice. "What's it called?"

"It's called '_Daring Do and the Secret of the Ancient Empire_'. It's about how Daring Do is helping a bunch of ponies take back their castle from the grips of an evil demonness that's driven them from their home, the castle. And you get this banished enchantress unicorn that's seeking redemption from something, I'm only about a quarter of the way through" Rainbow explained, shrugging at the same time.

"Hmm…" Twilight thought. The premise seemed very familiar. "It reminds me of this old tale, '_The Filly: An Unexpected Journey_'. I wonder if they end up the same."

"I dunno. I guess it's all about the arkeetypes or something" Rainbow suggested.

"Archetypes" Twilight corrected, but taken aback that Rainbow knew such a word. "Quite a fancy word coming from you, huh, Rainbow?"

"Been spending time with fancy folks" Rainbow replied with a wink and a laugh, which was reciprocated by Twilight. Rainbow then flew off to talk to Zecora while Twilight trotted over to the turntable to greet the DJ.

"Hey Vinyl, nice music! You made it?"

"Sure as hay did!" said the DJ pony, Vinyl Scratch, with a touch of pride in her voice. She lifted her hoof and bumped Twilight's own. "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks" Twilight said with a short laugh. "How's Octavia?"

"She's doing great, Octy's actually coming to town tomorrow" Vinyl answered "she's coming from Canterlot and is gonna stay for a while at my place here. She wanted to tell ya happy birthday too, but I dunno if she got ya something".

"It's fine, really. Just her coming to tell me happy birthday is wonderful enough!" Twilight commented.

"Yeah, we're thinking about doing some kind of record together while she's over. Still thinking over the finer details though" Vinyl began to muse over her own thoughts, then went back to working on the turntable. As friendly as she was, Vinyl had the problem of being easily distracted by her own musical prowess, which Twilight couldn't blame her for.

"Hey, Twilight!" called a voice nearby. Twilight turned and saw two ponies. One was an aquamarine-colored unicorn with a white streak through her mane and tail, and the other was a cream-colored Earth pony with a blue-and-pink mane and tail.

"Lyra! Bon Bon! Good to see you here!"

Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon were both very good friends of each other ever since Lyra moved to Ponyville, and Twilight regularly saw them together. Twilight had known Lyra already from Canterlot, and they were good friends. Unlike Twilight, Lyra was very sociable in Canterlot, although she did tend to get dreamy at times. Her friend, Bon Bon, usually tried to keep Lyra down to earth, whether it worked or not. But she was never hurtful.

"Same here" Lyra said. "I got you something special" she added with a grin, producing a long brown package.

Twilight's curiosity spiked up. She took the package and unwrapped it, revealing a box. She opened it and gasped with surprise.

Laden before her was a shiny telescope, one of the most beautiful she had ever seen. It was golden, with a long black stand about her height, which she could use to watch the skies without holding it upright all the time. It seemed to come directly from the astronomy section of Canterlot itself.

"I…I…" Twilight once again found herself at a loss for words.

"No need to thank me, Twilight-" Lyra started.

"But there is! This is beautiful!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Don't worry a bit about it, Twilight" Bon Bon commented. "Happy birthday!"

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Twilight burst out, jumping forth to bring the two in a big hug.

"Gah" Lyra tried to breathe through her stranglehold "You're…welcome!"

Realizing her antics, Twilight released them quickly. Both ponies were choking and trying to take deep breaths after their encounter with an over-enthusiastic Twilight.

"Don't worry about it" Bon Bon repeated through coughs. Twilight smiled nervously.

A small bump on her shoulder made Twilight swivel her head, and she found herself face-to-face with a pinkish mane.

"Umm, Twilight, I just wanted to ask" came Fluttershy's small voice "but what do you think of-"

Twilight didn't wait for her to finish "It's amazing, it's wonderful, it's astounding, I love it!" she exclaimed, grabbing Fluttershy and pulling her into a tight hug. Only when she looked at Fluttershy and saw her shocked and breathless face did Twilight release her.

"Oh…sorry" she said awkwardly, for the second time to another pony.

"It's okay" reassured Fluttershy, taking deep gulps of fresh air, but smiling regardless. "I'm glad you like it. Rainbow and I did it by ourselves, although we did run into a few problems".

"Yeah, the glitter" said Twilight. "Still, it looks great! How long did it take you?"

"Umm, just about a few hours" Fluttershy said. "But then we had to bring in all the foods and guests and stuff, so it took us a bit more time to get everything together perfectly. We were getting really worried about you when you didn't show up when we thought you would".

"It's okay, I was just caught up in some stuff" Twilight explained, hoping she didn't have to go through the memory of the riverside again. Especially after it turned out she didn't need to have all those feelings to begin with.

"What kind of stuff?" inquired Fluttershy curiously.

Before Twilight could think about what to say, a loud voice cut through.

"OKAY, WHO DRANK THE LAST OF THE FRUIT PUNCH?"

Pinkie's disapproving voice caught everypony off-guard, to the point that the record scratched and Vinyl took off her glasses, surprised. Slowly, everypony's head turned towards a plum colored pony with a purple-colored mane, who smiled embarrassedly.

"Oops" said Berry Punch. "Sorry about that…"

There was an uneasy silence. Then Pinkie Pie blurted out with a laugh.

"DON'T BE SORRY! KEEP EATING!"

The record scratched again, the music continued on, and everypony laughed, Twilight and Fluttershy included. Thankfully for Twilight, Fluttershy forgot her question, and they both went back to the party.

After about an hour and a half or so of music, eating, dancing, and laughing, it had become very late and was time for many of the ponies to go. Slowly, each of them bid goodbye to Twilight and another happy birthday, and one by one they vacated to return home. Soon enough, all that remained were Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Twilight then gave them all a big hug each.

"Thank you, you guys" she said, holding back tears of happiness. "You really didn't have to."

"Ah, no need ta worry about it" Applejack said, chortling.

"Indeed, my dear" Rarity commented. "What are friends for?"

Twilight laughed. Indeed so.

Soon, her friends bid her goodnight, and together they vacated the house.

There was a tremendous yawn from behind her and she saw Spike stretching.

"Ugh, I'm tiiiired" Spike said sleepily.

Twilight could feel a yawn coming on and just let it go. There was no point in denying that she wasn't tired either.

"Come on, Spike. Let's go to bed. We can clean up the mess tomorrow morning" she said smiling.

"Thanks Twi" Spike said, and was about to turn before Twilight pulled him into a hug – and not a bone-crushing one this time.

"Thank you so much, Spike. For everything" she whispered, while holding him close. She felt his arms hug back and the words "you're welcome, Twilight. Happy birthday".

She smiled. "Goodnight, Spike".

"Goodnight, Twi".

Together, they walked up, Twilight carrying the telescope with her. As soon as they arrived upstairs, Spike climbed into his basket and fell snoring into bed.

Twilight put up the telescope pointing at the window, next to her old one which was best at looking at short distance locations like the moon and other powerful stars, and contemplated going to bed before looking at it again.

She decided to give it a try. She wanted to know what looking through it was like. Maybe it was more powerful than her old one.

She peered through it and was astonished by the strength. She could clearly see the craters of the moon up close, as if they were directly in front of her. She began to swivel the telescope around, taking in all the amazing scenery. The bright dots that were stars, the blinding whiteness of the moon, the glowing of a distant comet, the flashing of red lights, the strands of nebula-

Twilight perked up for a second. Something was wrong.

She looked back into the telescope and peered at her locations in reverse order. And she found what she was looking for.

Red lights.

The only red dots she knew of were red giants, and they didn't flash. What were they?

As soon as she started to wonder what they were, the red flashing ceased, only to be replaced by a bright blue glow. It was very sudden and it vanished, but when it happened, Twilight felt something strange happen within her. Something she couldn't pinpoint. Something…ominous.

She shook it off. Today was a special day by any circumstance, but it was a tiring one as well. She would think more about this tomorrow, maybe send a letter to some astronomers at Canterlot tomorrow regarding those weird lights.

She climbed into bed and though back on the day. Which had turned out to be much better than she thought it would.

Today was a beautiful day. And tonight was a beautiful night as well. She could only wonder what tomorrow would hold.

The last image she saw before her mind slept was the scene she came across when she first entered the house: Pinkie with the horn, Rainbow with the confetti, everypony beaming, everypony happy.

And she smiled. Grateful for her friends, grateful for her assistant, grateful for today.

Grateful for everything.


	5. Chapter 4 – The Dream

"Rest, sister. As always, I will guard the night".

Luna's comforting voice interrupted the quiet of the night as Celestia looked outwards from the balcony towards the realm. She nodded.

"Goodnight, sister" she said, turning around to hug her younger sibling.

Celestia looked back on Luna, who winked and nodded, and proceeded to walk out to the patio. She then moved inside the building into the hallway and set forth.

Today was Twilight's birthday. She would have attended had she not had urgent business with some officials from Manehatten. She wasn't too happy about the sudden intrusion, but that was one of the perks of being a ruler: you always had the unexpected occur.

She did, however, find the time to send Twilight a letter with regards from Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor, so Celestia assumed Twilight would be grateful enough for that. She knew her student: modest, intelligent, understanding. There was no way Twilight would be upset.

Unfortunately, she couldn't know if she would be able to visit her tomorrow. The life of ruler of Equestria was not filled with much entertainment, although she did occasionally get the chance to head off to Ponyville or Cloudsdale or some outlying town for a certain celebration or for certain tasks. But, again, she was sure Twilight would understand.

Soon enough, she arrived at her quarters. It was quite the long day today, so she decided to walk over to the bed and fall to sleep right away, with no complications. She shut the door behind her and paced herself to the bed, in the middle of the room. She climbed in and breathed a long sigh.

She was Princess of the Sun for more than a thousand years, ruling over the realm of Equestria and controlling the day and night. It was thousands of years in loneliness. She had forced her sister, Luna, into exile after she had given in to her envy and overcome by darkness, transformed into Nightmare Moon. Banished into the moon for a thousand years, Celestia took on the role of controlling the moon as well as the sun during that time. But she had never truly forgiven herself for her carelessness concerning her younger sibling, even after Twilight and her friends had purified Luna of the darkness within her. And although Luna had returned once again to Equestria, Celestia still felt terrible at what she had done.

_There is really no point in feeling bad about yourself for this, you know. You did what had to be done._

_But couldn't there have been another way? Any other way?_

_ No. She was too consumed by evil for you to have done anything by then. Now, you are wiser, more experienced, and more caring. And need I remind you that she has forgiven you for something you have difficulty in forgiving yourself for?_

It was at times like this that the little voice in her head would pop up and berate her for feeling something she shouldn't be feeling. And although she usually agreed with the voice, she was hesitant to do so this time.

_Again? You're so stubborn when it comes to emotions, Celestia. The past isn't for us to dwell on, that's why it's called the past._

Once again, the voice had a point. And Celestia was still depressed.

She sighed once again, closed her eyes, and let sleep overtake her.

Her sleep came to her like it normally did. First, blackness from her eyes shutting out the room, then a softer kind of darkness as actual sleep began to seep into her. Any minute now, she would be drifting into a dream, like anypony usually did. She let her breathing settle rhythmically, slowly but steadily, and soon enough she lost contact with her senses except her mind.

Celestia was expecting another one of those dreams which was very reflective of what she did: perhaps an old memory, although she hoped it wasn't like the one where she had to fight and defeat her sister long ago. That was the last thing she needed now. Maybe it would be of a vision from the future – but she really didn't know what to expect of the future. That was why it was called such.

She really had no idea what it could be, but she waited nonetheless. And then it came.

The first thing she felt was the smooth, cold air flowing over her and the rustling of leaves nearby. She took this chance to open her eyes and explore the dream she was in. And she opened them.

She was standing in the middle of a forest clearing, under a sky lit up by stars and the moon. Trees towered over her, blocking out some of the celestial view while near the ground bushes slept at the roots of the trees, unmoving. There was a light, chilly wind that whispered from between the tree trunks, but other than this the forest was eerily quiet.

Celestia decided to take a look around. The forest definitely wasn't of the kind like the Everfree forest, but neither was it of a welcoming kind. It had a sense of foreboding to it. And it didn't feel alive at all, but it didn't feel entirely dead either; almost as if the forest itself was in hibernation.

Celestia caught something from the corner of her eye and turned. Her eyes slid down into a confused frown.

Between the trees, far ahead, there was a bright light shining through the trees, hovering silently above the ground. It seemed to be a bit formless from afar, but it could still be clearly seen. What it was, though, Celestia couldn't tell. Even with the lights from the sky shining down, the figure was in a particularly dark part of the forest.

By now she knew this dream was different from all the others. The atmosphere, the location, the light – something was up. She elected to investigate this light source and find out what it was. Maybe it was a clue to figuring out what the dream was about.

She began to walk slowly in the direction of the light, hoping she wouldn't frighten it if it was a conscious being. Her pacing broke to a small trot as she moved at a faster speed towards the light. However, she noticed that not only was the light not getting any bigger, but it was also shifting between the trees. She started to run, dodging under a low branch and nearly tripping on a root, and yet the light stayed ahead.

Suddenly, the light vanished. Celestia blinked. _It was right there in front of me. Where did it go?_

Now things were getting interesting. She decided to go to where the light had vanished. Surely, there had to be something there. She started to trot off in the direction of the formless light, wondering what could be left there in wake of the vanishing figure. When she arrived, she stopped and her eyes widened slightly.

Celestia had been ruler of Equestria for a thousand years. She had controlled both day and night, ruled over thousands of ponies from the north all the way to the south. She had personally battled some of the most ruthless creatures that threatened her existence, from the power-hungry Changeling queen Chrysalis to the out-of-control draconequus Discord. But in all her years, she had never seen something as strange as this, dream or not.

She was standing in the middle of a clearing, a little bigger than the one she started the dream in, and one that was in a perfect circle. The sky was still above here, so were the trees. It was still quiet, the bushes still rustled, and the wind still breathed. But it was the new stone that made Celestia quiver.

In the middle of the clearing was a giant stone block that rose above her. Blacker than darkness, perfectly shaped into a rectangle standing up, this strange statue towered over her. Although it was still smaller than the trees, the sheer immensity of this oblong dwarfed the powers of the trees. And what unsettled Celestia even more was that this…thing…just stood there, embedded in the ground. She had no idea what it was, how it was made, or what it was doing here. It was a strange sight and feel indeed, for the atmosphere around her had suddenly shot up in tension. There was something off about this thing. Something she couldn't pinpoint.

"Sister?"

Celestia had expected her younger sibling to arrive sooner or later. She was always in everypony's dreams, observing what was occurring, sometimes even helping them out in rare occurrences. And soon, she saw the familiar blue figure of Luna come out from the darkness of the forest.

"You seem to be having quite the dream."

"I know" replied Celestia. "I've never had something like this happen to me before. What do you think this could be?"

"I don't know" Luna said, a bit bluntly as she took Celestia's side. "I've never seen anything like this before".

They both inched their way towards the figure, not knowing if the thing was going to vanish, or fall down, or maybe even sink into the ground.

"First the light, now this. I wonder what I should be expecting next" Celestia stated curiously.

Luna nodded "Out of all the dreams, Tia, you sure picked the strangest one for tonight".

Celestia peered in closer to the stone object "Luna, do you see something inside this?"

Luna looked in as well "What?"

"You don't see anything?"

"Like what?"

Celestia was flummoxed. "I'm seeing lights inside this strange thing. Of many different colors and kinds".

"Well, I can't see them" Luna stated, with a bit of exasperation. "Are you sure they're visible?"

"Definitely. I can see them, clear as day." Celestia said.

Luna stayed quiet for a second "Then this is something for you to investigate."

Celestia perked up "What do you mean?"

"If there's something in a dream that you can see clearly but I can't, that means you have to explore this dream further to understand what is going on without me" Luna explained. "If there are really lights inside this statue, then maybe it is trying to tell you something?"

"Maybe" Celestia said. Although she was very careful, especially considering the abnormality of this dream so far, she was curious as to what this thing held for her. "How do I investigate further?"

"Hmm…" Luna thought, as Celestia waited. "Try touching it?"

"Are you sure?" Celestia said, a bit concerned "What if it's dangerous?"

"We're in a dream, nothing should really happen to you. And if it does, you have me by your side" Luna winked.

Celestia smiled "Thank you, sister".

She turned her head and stared into the blackness of the object that had been filled with bright flashes of lights of many colors; red, green, blue, orange. And they were swirling by so fast she couldn't keep up with them.

_Here goes_.

She lifted her right hoof ever so slowly and brought it up towards the stone, finally touching it softly with the tip of her hoof.

At first, nothing happened. The forest was silent, the sky shining with the stars, the object unmoving, Luna standing there.

When Celestia looked back at the oblong, though, she noticed it growing bigger. She looked up, and saw the rectangle expand towards the sky, stretching sideways to block out the forest view from her.

"Celestia!"

She heard her sister cry but couldn't move. She couldn't even move her eyes. Soon, the blackness expanded until it covered her entire sight and all she could see were the lights and darkness. Her hoof suddenly stretched as she was pulled into the black.

Time seemed to come to a halt as Celestia flew through the incandescent view. The lights zoomed past her, creating long lines of color. Even the void she was traveling in seemed to be moving as well. Hundreds of lights flew past, and she could make out faint voices in the din, voices she had never heard of before.

"_Power! Unlimited power!"_

"_Use the Force, Luke!"_

"_Only a Sith believes in absolutes. I will do what I must"._

"_This planet is ours…and soon, you will be too"._

"_Not all of us are fortunate enough to find the one with heart, the path the Force has set before us"._

"_If you value what they fight for, if you value each of your friends, if you truly want to save this world, and if you truly want to defeat this evil that took your friends and mentor away from you, then yes."_

"_Join me, and together we shall rule the galaxy as father and son!"_

Stretching on towards infinity, the voices began to overwhelm her. She had never heard any of them before. Some sounded benevolent, others evil; some compassionate, others apathetic. The lights, meanwhile, began to intensify, now only showing flashes of red lights streaming past her at top speed.

Celestia was just about to fear dizziness when suddenly everything stopped. The sounds, the red lights – everything froze and then disappeared. As abruptly as it had started, it stopped. She was stuck in darkness, although for some reason she could still see her hoof stretched out in front of her. She was still motionless, however.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of blue light ahead of her that soon overwhelmed her senses and turned everything white. She then felt herself falling down, away from the darkness, and landing on a hard surface on her hooves.

She took a few gulps of fresh air, and shook her head to clear it up. She then opened her eyes and nearly gasped of surprise.

The rectangle was gone. So were the lights and voices, the streams of red and the blue flash. She was standing now on the top of a flight of stairs leading downwards and away from what she thought was the most magnificent building she had ever laid her eyes upon. As far as she could tell, there were towers on top of the building; towers that were almost twice as high as the battlements of Canterlot. She could only see the tips of two, but she knew from basic architecture that there had to be more. All these towers stood up from a huge building that she felt looked very bland: grayish, mostly stone, but at the entrance were several huge columns that were bigger than the Canterlot towers and a giant door that was flanked by two statues. These statues were of weird creatures holding staffs and had their bodies and heads covered by cloaks.

She recognized those creatures. _Humans._

Celestia looked around more, and this time truly gasped.

She was looking upon the most beautiful scene she had laid her eyes upon, and this was saying something, seeing as she was looking out onto Equestria for a thousand years since the start of her rule. The dark blue atmosphere revealed hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of towers standing up, of so many shapes and sizes that they dwarfed even the most complex of Equestrian architecture. There were so many, and they were so tall, that she couldn't see the ground on which they stood. The clouds covered the sky, and in the patches of blue between the white she could see the tiny little dots of stars twinkling. The towers had little dots of lights on the as well, only these ones didn't flicker; rather, they stayed still. The staircase led downwards, almost to infinity, until she couldn't see what was at the end. The silence had also intensified from the forest. There was no wind, no ambience. It was total silence. All sounds that she could hear were of her own doing.

She turned back towards the gate and looked at it again. There was light emanating from points on the structure, which she assumed were flames or candles or something of the sort, all flanking the entrance to the giant structure. She took a deep breath, and began to trot on forward.

The statues towered ominously above her as she moved onwards towards the entrance. Celestia could then hear a trickling noise coming from behind the door. Overcome with curiosity, she opened the door and stumbled across the biggest hall she had ever seen in her life. It was colossal, almost twice the size of the entrance hall in Canterlot, and almost twice as magnificent. The columns rose high towards the ceiling, while giant statues stood motionless at the walls, staring into the room. The floor was covered in tiles that were either maroon or grey, but were patterned into beautiful shapes and forms, some of which Celestia had never thought of before. At the very center was a fountain, taller than her and almost two-and-a-half times the diameter of the one back in Canterlot, still spurting out water despite the place being apparently abandoned. She was sure, however, that it used to belong to a very valued group of ponies (or, on second thought, humans), considering the vastness of the entrance hall at least. On each wall there were at several doors, and on the far end of the room there was a flight of stairs leading up to another floor with what Celestia assumed to be more rooms and probably much more. She could even see the rest of the building from beyond the staircase, with the columns and ceilings far ahead.

Celestia was now truly inquisitive, wanting to know more about this strange place. There was something off about this room, however. It seemed abandoned, but unlike the forest this one was full of life. She seemed invigorated just by being here, and now her curiosity doubled. She decided to check on one of the rooms nearby to see what there was. She looked nearby and saw a room with what appeared to be glowing lights. She didn't think twice, and next thing she knew she was trotting out towards the room. When she entered, her face lightened up with pleasant surprise.

The room appeared to be some sort of a library (of the kind that would have driven Twilight insane with delight), with walls on each side that shone blue at certain parts (and which seemed to be divided into small rectangles, of which some glowed and some didn't). Throughout the middle of the room, there were equal-sized tables at regular intervals up until the end of the room. On each table there were at least half-a-dozen smaller shapes with a weird window on them that was black. Various tools littered the tables, most of which Celestia had never seen in her life. On the far end was an entrance of some sort, and above her seemed to be another floor filled with more of these blue walls. At each edge of the walls was a pedestal with a small statue of a part of the humans she had seen, except they only showed the head and torso, and they were uncovered and colored gold.

Celestia had just taken another step towards the statues and walls, intending to find out what they were, when she heard a loud groan from the nearby room, as if the building itself was shifting.

She froze instantly, ears perking up and eyes open wide, waiting for that one moment where something was going to happen.

Nothing did.

She decided to leave this library and investigate the sound source. This building seemed to have thousands of rooms, so leaving this one alone wouldn't be a problem. She already knew what purpose it served anyway.

When she stepped out of the room, she stopped and looked around, her eyes narrowed in confused curiosity.

The room had changed. At first, it wouldn't be that noticeable, but on close examination it was definitely different. The feeling of grandeur had vanished, replaced with one of emptiness. The columns looked tired, the lights were dimmer, and the ground looked a lot dustier than she had encountered it. The fountain, however, was still running. But when she looked, it seemed reddish. She walked carefully over there and her eyes widened with surprise.

The fountain was indeed spurting red. Blood.

As soon as she had seen it, the blood stopped and seeped into the drain below, leaving an absolutely empty fountain. And when that happened, she saw the small strands of cobwebs begin to unfurl itself across parts of the fountain, giving it an aged look. She began to step back until she nearly tripped over something. When she turned, her own blood ran cold.

A corpse lay there, on its side, with a burnt shape on its chest and a strange but short and silver pipe in its hands. The body wore a beige tunic of some kind and a brown cloak, and its boots were black. It appeared to be another human, but this one had its face clearly seen, and its eyes were closed and mouth hanging half open. Celestia looked around and stepped forward, and her soul began to shiver.

Now the entire room had been transformed dramatically. One of the columns was on the ground, shattered and broken, while the front gate was broken down and the library door was missing. There were bodies everywhere, of almost all kinds: some were human, some weren't, some wore the beige-and-brown uniform and some wore what seemed to be white-and-black battle armor. The atmosphere had changed as well. At first, the room radiated warmth and compassion, but now it felt completely empty. As if all life had been cleansed out. It was as close to dead as it could be.

"It's been a long time, Celestia".

Celestia whipped around and took another step back, ready to counter whoever it was that would threaten her.

A human sat on the fountain edge, wearing the beige-and-brown uniform. Unlike most of the corpses, he appeared old, with a white beard and hair, and seemed a bit wrinkled. Nevertheless, he radiated confidence and wisdom, as well as a strange blue aura that seemed to glow from within him. His face, however, was what softened Celestia's stance. He seemed kind and friendly…and somehow familiar.

Celestia's eyes narrowed. She wouldn't take chances. "Who are you?"

The human chuckled "Well, I am someone you haven't met for a very, very long time" he stated.

Celestia held. "Is that so?"

The human nodded, smiling.

"Go on" Celestia said. She felt he had something to say.

The man sighed "I am the one who saved you long ago, and who will save you now again. I am your old friend, from a world and a galaxy far away" he said. "Open your eyes, Celestia".

Celestia stood still, processing the information, pursuing her memory banks, going through everything. And then her eyes widened in shock.

"No…It can't be…"

The old man smiled "Yes."

"Obi-Wan Kenobi!"

She rushed forward to the man, who had stood up to receive her, and began to nuzzle his chest. He began to pat her on the head, as well, reciprocating the feeling of affection.

"Wh-what" she had trouble speaking, due to the shock of it all "What happened to you? What is this place?"

His face was still soft, but at the second question it seemed to show a kind of sadness that Celestia couldn't figure out.

"Remember, Celestia, long ago, when I came to your world to shield it from evil?" he asked.

Celestia nodded.

"This evil that would have consumed the world has seized this place and destroyed it" he said, looking around. "This is the Jedi Temple".

Celestia looked around, her mouth agape, at the decay and ruin overwhelming the room. "This? The Jedi Temple? What happened to it?"

"It was destroyed" Obi-Wan said with a hint of melancholy behind it. "Almost all the Jedi were murdered and the Temple occupied, looted, and burned. The Jedi were hunted down and exterminated, until only a few remained, and evil rose to rule the galaxy for more than two decades."

Celestia gasped from shock. What was once the heart of justice and peace in the outside galaxy was reduced to smoldering ruin. The guardians of righteousness were destroyed, eliminated. She couldn't begin to imagine what had happened since then, and she didn't want to "And you?"

Obi-Wan looked at her, his face neutral but his eyes downcast, and the truth hit Celestia.

"No...not you!" she cried with anguish.

He nodded "I am no longer among the living."

"Oh, Obi-Wan" she said, and leapt forward to sob on his shoulder. Her friend, dead. The Jedis, gone. And yet she lived. If it wasn't for him, she had no idea how she would have survived. How Equestria could have lived on. And of all the people to pay the ultimate price, it had to be him. Celestia let the tears fall freely from her face. He never deserved this. No one like him did.

She felt a hand touch her, and she looked up, eyes filled with tears, to see Obi-Wan looking at her. To her surprise he was smiling.

"It's over, my friend" he said, and his voice brought some confidence back into her again. "The evil has already been vanquished, and virtue and justice has once again returned. This has happened more than a decade and a half ago."

Celestia breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn't imagine evil dominating the galaxy for a long time, and she was most thankful to her friend for making sure the evil never came to her world. But at this thought, her eyes began to well up again.

"But…you…"

"Are dead" he finished for her. "And were it not for my sacrifice, the hope of the galaxy would have been destroyed as well."

Celestia bowed her head down in sadness. It pained her to know that in a world outside her own, people had to die for what was right. She was always thankful for her world having to exist without darkness, but she forgot that people outside, people she never knew of, also had to give themselves for the light.

"But…why are you here?"

Obi-Wan looked around the room once again, which retained its morbid atmosphere, and then returned to her, his expression much more serious.

"The Force has allowed me to return to the galaxy, but only for a short while."

"Why? What is happening?"

"It's not about what is happening, it's about what will happen".

Celestia stayed quiet. She wanted to know.

"The shield surrounding your planet has been broken".

Her blood froze, her brain attempting to contemplate this new fact.

"It's gone? That means-"

"Evil draws close, Celestia. And this evil is beyond anything I have witnessed before."

Celestia shivered.

"Your planet will fall siege to the Dark Side of the Force, and may be overwhelmed by it".

Her throat ran dry. Equestria, controlled by evil. It was something she couldn't begin to contemplate. Something she couldn't allow, either.

"But the most important thing you must remember, Celestia, is that you mustn't lose hope".

Celestia looked straight into her friend's eye, which stared right back. Silence stretched between the two.

"Why is that?"

"Because you won't be alone in this conflict" he said.

Celestia's ears perked up in curiosity. "We won't".

"Not at all" he said, and his voice saw a return to warmth again. "You will be joined soon by two Jedi knights who also seek to exterminate this evil from the galaxy before it can grow. But it will not be enough. For you see, the source to destroy this evil lies within this world."

Celestia's eyes narrowed to confusion "Here?"

"Yes" Obi-Wan confirmed. "The planet is rife with the Force, especially of the Light Side, which can help to destroy this Dark force. However, it will attempt to manipulate the Light here and turn it against you and, eventually, the galaxy. If it succeeds, it will not stop, and the galaxy will once again be engulfed in flame."

The man's words shook Celestia to the core. To think that her world, which was once hidden away from the galaxy and had nothing whatsoever to do with it was now the key to salvation for almost every living being that existed there…this was a shocking revelation indeed.

However, his words brought confidence to her. Evil may come, but there was no darkness without light. And even the smallest candle would eventually extinguish the darkness around it. She knew that, eventually, whatever evil came to her world would be destroyed, one way or another, no matter how long it took.

"You must remember as well, though" his voice rang out again, and Celestia shook herself from her thoughts "that this enemy is very cunning and vicious, much more than anything you have witnessed or thought about. You must not underestimate its power or its determination, lest it be your downfall".

Celestia nodded. This would not be easy.

Obi-Wan then smiled warmly, which Celestia reciprocated "Do not worry, my dear friend" he said kindly "and always maintain hope. For without it, you will fail and see your subjects fall before you".

She shivered, hoping that the mental image that came to her mind with this would never have to occur.

"But how will I know what the evil is like?"

"You must trust your instincts, Celestia" Obi-Wan said "and overlook nothing. You will know this evil when you see it".

She nodded, and the aged Jedi nodded back.

Celestia once had to endure forcing her sister away because of the evil controlling her. She had to experience a thousand years of guilt that never went away because of her one action. She would not allow any of her subjects to ever come to harm again because of evil. That, she would make sure of. No matter the price she had to pay. Even if it would have to be the ultimate one, she refused to acknowledge the possibility that her people would have to suffer.

Celestia felt the ground beneath her rumble. She looked around, and saw the room begin to collapse. However, the pieces that broke off fell in shards like glass, revealing an atmosphere of completely black. Eventually, even the floor began to break into fragments and dissipate.

"Wh-what is happening?" she exclaimed.

"My time is up" Obi-Wan said. "I have to go".

"Wait! But-" she began.

"Remember, Celestia!" he cried out, as he began to fade into the darkness around him "do not lose hope!"

Celestia looked to her friend, who she felt would not be seeing again, and nodded.

"I won't".

Obi-Wan's figure soon faded into the darkness, the last thing Celestia remembering of him being his warm face and benign smile. She would remember it, in her darkest hour or her brightest day. Always.

Celestia took one last look at the shattered room before she closed her eyes and darkness engulfed her as well, taking her away from the room and down into the void.

* * *

"Extend landing gear, adjust elevation scan" Dash said to his co-pilot.

"Roger, doing what you just said" Leebo came back.

The _Outrider_ stopped moving ahead and began to lower itself down slowly. Dash took in the view ahead of him. They were landing in a forest on the clearing furthest away from the nearby village, which seemed to be quite small – just about a fraction of the size of Mos Eisley, as far as Dash could tell. To the northeast, there seemed to be a tremendously tall mountain on which sat a giant city on its side, to the point that it seemed like both a palace and a city at the same time. Even then, by his standards it was pretty small.

Other than that, considering the course they were plotting to land without detection, there wasn't much cities.

"Leebo?"

"Yes captain?"

"What do you think is down there?"

"Denizens of this planet, what else?" came Leebo's reply.

Dash nodded, but couldn't shake off the feeling that there was more to this than what was initially seen. There was definitely something off about this place.

He shook his head. There he was, thinking too hard again. All he wanted to do was fix this ship and get out of here before anything happened.

"How long do you think repairs ought to take?" Dash asked.

"I'm not sure" Leebo sounded off "but we have yet to make a complete assessment of all damage to the ship as well as our supplies, so we may be stuck here for some time or for no time at all".

Dash sighed. This was one of the problems of being waylaid on a mysterious planet with a damaged ship. You had no idea how things were going to turn out.

Soon enough, the _Outrider_ slowed to a complete stop as the ship descended into the middle of the clearing, which was just about big enough to hold the _Outrider_ and not attract much suspicion from anyone up above who was going freighter-hunting. It would have to do until repairs were done.

"You know, sir, I wouldn't be surprised if something happened here that would mess up our plans again".

Dash stared out into the forest, which seemed to glare back at him with the darkness. Memories of past experiences came back to him.

"I would be surprised if something didn't".


	6. Chapter 5 – The Fireball

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

There it was again. The annoying ticking, piercing the comforting darkness.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

The ticking noise was once again replaced by a blaring ringing, and once again the ringing was stopped with a simple gesture of bringing the hoof down.

Twilight got out of bed, filled up with excess energy from the wonderful night, and bound up to the curtains, pulling them open so hard she may have accidentally ripped them off. The familiar glow of the sun overwhelmed her and began to add to her excitement for the new day.

She trotted up to the mirror in the bathroom and stared into it. Apparently, her good mood was reflected in her appearance on this particular morning (which reminded her of Pinkie Pie, for some odd reason), to the point that her hair didn't need much brushing to regain its usual position. She didn't even need to splash water on her face, she was wide awake.

Walking back into the room, she used her magic to fix the bedsheets with one swift movement. Granted as though she felt excellent on this morning, she'd best not forget her basic chores. Better to do them now than later.

She walked down the stairs, humming one of her favorite tunes, and turned towards the kitchen, where Spike was apparently done preparing the table for breakfast. On this particular morning, he had put together a few greens such as daisies and vegetables into what seemed like some sort of salad, some toast on the side in a plate, a jar of jam, and a cup of tea. Granted, it wasn't like yesterday's pancakes, but sometimes special stuff was best left spontaneous. That's what made them special.

"Good morning, Spike!" She said cheerfully as she walked up to the table where the food was and took her seat.

"'Morning, Twi!" Spike responded with the same tone as she sat down. "Sorry for the lame breakfast, but well, we're almost outta groceries" he said, shrugging.

"It'sh okay, Shpike" she said, through a mouthful of flowers and gulped down "I guess this adds to our list of stuff to do today?"

"Yep" Spike said, pausing to bite into some celery and chew for a bit, then swallow down the greens.

Twilight chuckled as she took some lettuce and began to chow down as well.

"Is this the last of the jam?" she asked as she spread some on a piece of toast.

Spike nodded as he reached over for some toast as well.

Within minutes, the table was empty and both stomachs were filled. Twilight levitated the plates towards the sink, which was still full with yesterday's dishes.

"Oh" Spike said, suddenly remembering that he had forgotten to clean up the mess "I'll get to that right now-"

"Oh, nonsense" Twilight said with a chuckle. "I'll deal with it, while we go to the marketplace".

"How are we gonna do that?" Spike asked.

"An assembly line" Twilight said, winking at him. She aimed her horn at the dishes and thought the spells.

Instantly, the plates rose up to the side and arranged themselves according to type: cups, plates, forks, knives, spoons, jugs, bowls, jars. One of the plates hovered over to the sink and stopped just above it. The sponge then dipped itself into the bowl with soap and began to scrub the plate hard. In fact, it was so thorough and rough that it only took a few seconds before the sponge went back into the soap bowl and the plate was soon covered in a shower of water from the faucet. Once that was done, the plate moved over to the dish rack and positioned itself. As soon as it had left the sink, the next plate began to hover onwards.

Spike stared with his mouth open as the assembly line continued. Hover, scrub, water, land. Hover, scrub, water, land.

Twilight suppressed the urge to laugh at Spike's dumbfounded expression "Like it?"

Spike looked at her, flabbergasted "Why didn't you ever do that before?"

"I just learned it two days ago" she said truthfully, although a part of her decided not to let the dragon – or herself, for that matter – indulge in laziness. She wouldn't be doing that spell very often.

"But, what if the dishes are done? Will the spell keep going?" Spike said, with a hint of worry in his voice.

"Don't worry, as soon as there are no more dishes to be done, the spell will stop" she said reassuringly. She summoned a paper and quill from the library room with her horn "Now, get a quick inventory of stuff we need from the market while I head off to get my bits from upstairs".

"I gotcha" Spike said.

Twilight trotted out and went up the stairs as she heard Spike open the fridge. She went to the cupboard next to her bed and opened the bottom door.

Stashed in secret inside was her bitbox, and she slowly set the combination with her horn and opened it. Inside, she summoned up about fifty bits: more than enough for any grocery shopping, and put them in her saddle bag. She closed the box and scrambled the combination, then shut the cupboard door and paced out the room, slipping the saddle bag on her as she exited.

Heading downstairs, she encountered Spike waiting for her at the bottom with the paper.

"There you are" he said "I got the inventory for all the groceries we need".

"What have we got?" Twilight asked.

"Well, we'll need bread, daisies, celery, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, some hay, a jar or two of jam, and some flour and eggs in case we wanna bake a cake or something. And maybe a gem or two" he finished off. At the last words, he suddenly looked dreamy. "Maybe three…or four-"

"Spike" Twilight said.

"Maybe five…or a dozen…"

"Spike! " she said loudly.

Spike snapped out "Huh? What?"

Twilight gave him an exasperated but bemused face, and shook her head. When it came to gems, Spike would really let himself go sometimes.

"You were just drifting off again. Come on, let's go" she said.

Spike nodded, his face a bit downcast at the dream of gems being just a dream, but he shook himself and joined her as she walked towards the door and pushed it open.

The duo walked out of the hollow tree towards the village, and Twilight examined the mailbox on the way. No new mail, although the post did seem a bit leaned. She chuckled lightly and pushed the mailbox to make it stand straight again. She then joined Spike, who had absentmindedly walked ahead a bit, and together they continued onwards towards the market.

The day was just like any other, even yesterday. The little fillies headed off to school, while the elders sat outside their home, chatting about the old times. The other ponies headed off to their work or maybe just for a brisk late morning trot, or perhaps for the market to get some supplies for the household. It was morning routine for the citizens of Ponyville, with nothing unusual of the sort happening. And Twilight didn't know whether to be thankful or not for that. Boredom was usually the result of routine, but she needed a break from constantly saving the world or solving problems. And despite yesterday night being a pleasant surprise, Twilight wanted a completely normal day to let her mind relax.

Passing the Town Hall on the way, Twilight's attention was diverted to two ponies coming her way. One was a white unicorn with a purple mane, while the other was pink with poofy hair and got around by bouncing. She heard a smitten sigh beside her.

_Oh, boy._

"Hey, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bouncing around as if it was the way she traversed (which it usually was). "Whatcha up to?"

"Hey, Pinkie Pie!" she greeted. "Hello, Rarity!"

"Good morning" Rarity replied in her usual formal manner. "How do you do?"

"Quite good, still uppity from that surprise you threw for me yesterday" she said with a chuckle.

"Oh, shucks, Twilight" Pinkie said, giggling. "You don't need to fuss more over that!"

Twilight was about to reply that she did have to, but then she noticed that Spike hadn't said hello, but in fact was staring at Rarity with his eyes turned to hearts. The usual reaction. She rolled her eyes and nudged Spike with her hoof subtly.

Spike, for the second time, snapped up from his trance. "Wh-what what?" he said, confusedly, but then saw the two ponies in front of him and realized his mistake.

"Oh, um, good morning!" he said sheepishly "How are you both?"

Pinkie began to nod and bounce, a giant grin across her face as is typical of Pinkie Pie "Awesome! I just LOOVE mornings! Especially with the sun and the happy ponies and the smell and the sights and-"

Rarity chuckled a bit, cutting her off "Indeed you do, Pinkie Pie. Indeed you do." She turned to Spike to answer his question "I'm doing quite well, in fact. Although it is just the usual morning." She said, with a hint of boredom. Twilight could empathize with that. "Where are you off to, Twilight?"

"I was just heading down to the marketplace to get some stuff for home. What about you?" She answered.

Both Rarity and Pinkie suddenly perked up, as if remembering something.

"That reminds me. I do need to get some new threads for something I've been working on for a client from Los Pegasus, as well as a few other tools I'm lacking in" Rarity said, pondering.

"Yeah! And I just remembered I had to get some flour and eggs and chocolate chips and stuff for chocolate chip cookies!" Pinkie piped up. Thinking about her future delicious treat, she licked her lips once, making a loud slurping noise "Mmm, just imagine! I'd LOVE to munch on some!"

"Wow" Twilight laughed "Looks like we all need to get some stuff from the marketplace. Let's go together!"

"Yippee!" Pinkie cheered, bouncing up into the air.

"Couldn't have thought of a better idea myself" Rarity said with a smile.

Twilight turned to Spike, who was once again staring at Rarity, at a loss for words. She sighed and nudged him once more, and he shook himself.

"Yeah! Let's!"

Twilight smiled satisfactorily, and together the three ponies and dragon headed onwards towards the market, which was just a short way away. Upon rounding a corner, Twilight looked down the street.

There were dozens of stands on either side, all distributing a certain product, ranging from fruits and vegetables to bread and sweets and more. There were quite a few ponies here today, all of them with their saddle bags and backpacks, all moving from vendor to vendor buying their groceries. Together, the group moved into the crowd, passing by ponies gathering their supplies and others arguing over prices. The group arrived at the center before Twilight spoke up.

"Alright, everypony. Head off to buy the stuff you need, then meet back here, and we'll go and have lunch nearby" she said. "Spike, stick with me."

Everypony else nodded, and Pinkie Pie bounced off towards the sweet section and Rarity trotted off to the non-edible products part of the market. Twilight and Spike, in the meanwhile, walked towards the jam stand first, for it was the closest, and it had a short queue.

"Hi" Twilight said, upon reaching the vendor. "I'd like to have three jars of strawberry jam, if you please."

"Sure" the vendor said, in a bored voice. He picked out several jars, put them in a bag and set them on the counter. "That'll be fifteen bits".

Twilight raised her eyebrows. "Fifteen bits? Isn't that a tad much for a few jars of jam?".

"Yeah, I know" the vendor said, his voice growing irate. "We've had a flood in the strawberry crops outsida town and an acre or sumthin 'a berries was ruined. The price oughta be fixed soon, just as soon as we can get the supplies running up properly 'gain."

She shook her head. Was it really that bad to raise the price so drastically? "When will the price be fixed again?"

"Ah dunno" the vendor said, now looking visually annoyed. "Maybe in a few days 'r somethin'. Ya gonna pay up?"

"On second thought" Twilight said "I'll come back and get the jam in about half a week. That works?"

"Yeah, sure, why not" he said, putting the jars back on the shelf. "Now move along, other customers 'r waitin'" he added, gesturing to the queue behind her.

Twilight nodded and began to walk away, with Spike in tow. She frowned.

"Wonder what was up with him" she said irritantly. "No need to be so rude, even in the morning".

"Bad business, maybe?" Spike asked.

"Even then, that's no excuse for him to be so disrespectful." She said "I mean, I'm only trying to get some-"

For the second time in two days, she was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she crashed into another pony.

"Ouf!"

Twilight gasped "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry-" she started, but then her mood lightened up at who she saw.

"Hey, Vinyl! Good to see you here!"

The blue-maned unicorn shook her head, making sure her goggles were on tight, before she looked at who she ran into.

"Hey there, Twi! Nice ta see ya! Sorry about crashin' into ya, but, well, I was just distracted by Octy here".

"Oh, har har, very funny, Vinyl" said an annoyed voice. "Maybe you should pay more attention to where you walk!"

Next to Vinyl was a grey Earth pony with a black mane that was tightly combed and long to match her tail, as well as a white band with a pink bow tie going around her neck. She looked slightly cross at Vinyl for her comment.

"Octavia!" Twilight blurted with surprise.

Octavia turned to the source of the voice and her expression brightened significantly.

"Well, hello there, Twilight! It is simply excellent to see you again!"

Twilight laughed. Octavia was, along with Vinyl, one of the best musicians in all of Equestria, but personality-wise, you couldn't find a more contrasting pair. While Vinyl was very laid back and easily distracted, Octavia was very uptight and focused, almost like Rarity but less picky. Even then, she was a good voice of wisdom in times of need.

"Same here! What brings you to Ponyville?"

"Oh" Octavia sighed "a small break, I suppose. I mean, it can get boring up in Canterlot, especially after going for long periods of time without anything happening. Although I do have my cello with me, so I guess that's a sort of comfort".

"Vinyl said you two were working on something together" Twilight said, remembering something from last night.

"Ah, yes" Octavia said, shooting Vinyl an irritated look "it WAS supposed to be a secret, but now my partner here has gone on ahead and blabbed about it to the first pony she saw".

"Hey" Vinyl said, her facial expression hard to pick up because of the goggles but her voice sounding defensive "this is Twilight we're talking about. She can keep a secret! Right?" She asked, looking directly at her.

Twilight shifted a bit from the attention they gave her and displayed an embarrassed smile. She did try to keep a secret once, but if it wasn't for Pinkie shadowing her everywhere to make sure her mouth was shut, she would have failed. But she knew better now.

"Yeah, sure! Of course!" She said meekly.

Octavia's face lit up "Excellent!" She pulled Twilight into a hug not unlike the ones Twilight was giving out yesterday "You'll be the first pony to hear our work!" She broke her hug, thankfully before Twilight began to cough. Twilight walked back a bit, rubbing her throat.

"T-that's wonderful" she sputtered out.

Vinyl laughed, and she was soon joined in by the others, even Twilight after her breathing had relaxed a bit. "What are you two doing here?" She asked.

"Well, me and Tavi are just walking around, I'm showing her the place" Vinyl responded. "What about you two? Whatcha' doin' in the market?"

"We're getting some stuff for home, we're running low on a few supplies" Twilight said.

"Well, don't let us keep you, dear" Octavia said with a smile. "I'll make sure to drop by your house later on. I do need to tell you 'happy birthday' properly, now, don't I?" she added with a wink.

Twilight blushed "You don't have to-" she started.

"Oh, but on the contrary" Octavia cut her off. "I'm terribly sorry I didn't attend your birthday yesterday, but the train was delayed, I was only able to arrive in the early morning".

"Oh, don't you worry about it one bit" Twilight said reassuringly. "If you want, you can meet with us at the square once again when we're done with our shopping, and you can join us for lunch!"

"Awesome!" Vinyl exclaimed. "I'm in!" Octavia laughed and added "That would be most splendid. We will meet you once you're done".

Twilight nodded "Alright, take care of yourselves! See you soon!"

"Will do, Twi!"

"See you, Twilight!"

As the duo walked away, chatting, Twilight turned to Spike.

"Well, it was quite the surprise to see them here" Twilight said.

"Yep, and Octavia was sure glad to see you" he mentioned.

Twilight nodded. She had always liked Octavia's music back in Canterlot, and the pony musician knew this. "Right, then, what's next on our list?"

"Lettuce, carrots, celery, tomatoes" Spike read off the sheet of paper.

"Let's get them together, I think they're next to each other" Twilight said. Spike nodded, and together they turned towards the vegetable stands nearby.

The stands held a variety of products ranging from beets and carrots and other roots to potatoes, beans, and more. The first one Twilight walked to was the lettuce stand, it being the closest.

"Good morning, there" she greeted. "Can I get some lettuce? Three pounds, if you please".

"Alrighty, three poundsa lettuce comin' right up!" the vendor said, in a more cheerful voice than the previous once. He rummaged through the supplies to get the produce, then lobbed them over his shoulder until they landed in a pyramidal shape on the counter. "That'll be nine bits."

Twilight nodded. That was a price that made sense. Not fifteen bits for three jars. She turned to her saddle bag to get the money, and had just opened it when she heard a voice beside her.

"Now, don't you worry about that. It's on me."

Twilight heard a clinking noise from her front, and she turned to see nine bits on the counter. She turned further and was surprised by who she saw.

"Oh, Doctor, you didn't have to!"

Doctor Hooves was the town's official Time Turner, responsible for managing the clocks around town. He also was very good with clocks, and ran a shop where he sold them and repaired any damaged ones. His talent with time went so far as to the point where he could guess what time of the day or night it was just by looking at the sky and seeing the positions of the sun or moon. He also had a unique sense of humor at times, being very lighthearted about any situation regardless of what it was.

"Nonsense" he said "I do have to get you SOME kind of present, now, don't I?"

Twilight chuckled "Oh, Doctor, there was absolutely no need! I can get them fine on my own!"

"I know you can" Hooves said, reciprocating her laugh "But this time I will" He turned to the vendor "This batch is on me. And if she tries to pay you, I'm sure you can invent an excuse so that she won't have to".

Twilight's face reddened with embarrassment "But-"

"Oh, think nothing of it" he said cheerfully "It's quite nothing, actually".

Twilight shook her head but smiled all the same. Hooves was known for being tremendously stubborn, even in the positive manner.

"Hey, Doctor, what are you doing here again?"

"Oh" he turned to her, surprised "Well, I was about to get some lettuce of my own. Which reminds me" he turned to the vendor and put three bits on the counter "A pound of lettuce?"

"Yeah, sure" the vendor said, observing the conversation amusedly. He turned and lobbed a lettuce bundle over his shoulder, which landed neatly inside Hooves' bag. He closed it and grinned.

"Well, I must be off for now. We must be meeting again, soon, however" he added. "Been quite some time since we last did so. Thank you for reminding me about the lettuce, by the way".

"Me? I ought to thank you for paying for the lettuce" she said, half-laughing.

"Like I said, think nothing of it" he replied, chuckling. "See you around!"

Twilight chortled as he trotted off, humming some tune she hadn't heard before. She turned to Spike who was doing his best to suppress his laughter.

"Oh, cut that out" she said, although she shared his facial expression "And knock the lettuce off the list".

"Roger" he said, scratching the paper with a single line, still smirking. Twilight shook her head and trotted to the next stand, with Spike in tow who was still grinning.

In fifteen minutes, Twilight was back at the center with Spike, waiting for Pinkie Pie. Rarity was already there waiting for them with her supplies, and Vinyl and Octavia had passed by on the way to the town square. Both decided to meet her at lunch in the restaurant instead of accompany them there, as Octavia had heard of a music store nearby and desperately wanted to take a look, much to Vinyl's exasperation. So it was just Twilight, Spike, and Rarity waiting for their pink friend.

"How long do you think should it take Pinkie to come back?" Twilight asked. "It's been quite a long time since she bounced off."

"Well, you know our dear friend" Rarity replied. "She's probably still stuck at the first vendor, looking at all the candies and sweets. You know she has a dear infatuation for-"

"HIYA RARITY!" came a shout from behind. Rarity yelped and leapt into the air from surprise, and came crashing down on the ground. Behind her, Pinkie Pie was holding several bags on her sides and looking ecstatic.

"There you two are! I was wondering where you were because I finished getting all the sweets and chocolates and candies and stuff from the vendors and I thought maybe you were delayed or something so I decided to check the first store again and it turns out I forgot something so I-"

"Pinkie!" Twilight said, cutting her off, but giggling at poor Rarity's shock, which had hit her to the point that her hair was almost as poofy as Pinkie's. "Here, I have a comb in my saddle bag" she added, opening the bag and summoning the brush from within.

"Th-th-thank y-you, Tw-Twilight" Rarity stammered, still shaken from the surprise yell, and pulled herself together enough to take the brush and start fixing her hair.

"Why do you have a comb inside your saddle bag?" Spike asked, confused.

"In case something like this happens" Twilight responded with a giggle which was repeated by Pinkie, much to Rarity's irritation. Hoping to avoid Rarity complaining to Pinkie about surprises, Twilight quickly inquired "Did you both get the stuff you wanted?"

"Yes, I did" Rarity answered, although she still looked aggravated at Pinkie's antic.

"So did I!" Pinkie said happily, either unaware of or ignoring Rarity's expression "You wanna come by and help me back those cookies?"

"Sure" Twilight said. There was nothing else to do for the rest of the day, so she might as well help Pinkie cook up some of the cookies. She would probably even learn how to do them herself. She was sure Spike would be glad of that.

"But first, we'd best be eating. I'm pretty sure you're all getting hungry" she added.

Pinkie looked down at her stomach, which at the sound of an opportunity for food began to rumble. She looked up again.

"I'm rumbly in my tummy! How did you know?"

Twilight laughed "Well, it IS almost lunchtime".

"Oh yeah" Pinkie replied. "Well, what are we gonna eat?"

"I was thinking of trying out this new restaurant nearby" Twilight said "I think it's called-"

What it was called, they never found out, because at that moment, Pinkie began to shake violently, as if an earthquake had suddenly struck.

"Pinkie, my dear, what's the matter?" Rarity asked, surprised.

"I-i-i-i-i-it's-s-s-s-s m-m-m-m-my-y-y-y-y-y t-t-t-t-t-a-a-a-a-a-i-i-i-i-il-l-l-l-l-l" Pinkie stuttered as her body vibrated. Twilight looked behind the shaking pony and saw Pinkie's tail shuddering hard, like it was tied to a jackhammer.

As soon as it had happened, it stopped. Spike looked scared.

"Something's gonna fall!"

Twilight looked up in the sky. It was quite the clear day, without a cloud in sight. The pegasi had cleared it up, and all she could see was blue and white.

"I don't think so. The skies look quite clear today." She turned to the others and saw Rarity gaping at the sky behind her, a look of horror on her face.

"A-are you s-sure, Twilight?" came Spike's voice, quivering.

Twilight turned to the direction Rarity was looking at and gasped.

Up, far away, and near the sun, there was another sun steadily growing, only this one was a reddish-orange and seemed to be getting bigger all the while. It took her a while to figure out that this was a tremendous fireball zooming right towards them. All the other ponies in the market stopped and looked up at the sky, both terrified and intrigued at this new phenomenon.

The fireball then screamed over their heads and out of sight, heading onwards to the northwest. It seemed to be very small, about the size of one of the stands in the market, and despite the flames surrounding it Twilight could see that it was almost egg-shaped. As it passed overhead, Twilight noticed that it wasn't just a flying rock, because rocks weren't usually of a silver-ish color. A few seconds later, they heard a tremendous crash and a large explosion that shook the marketplace to the core.

"W-what in Equestria was that?" Rarity asked in shock.

"A meteorite!" Twilight exclaimed. She had read about them many times in her books, but she had never experienced a meteorite crashing so close to Ponyville before. She wouldn't have another chance to examine one up close. "It's crashed somewhere to the northwest. Come on, girls! Let's get to Fluttershy's cottage, and from there we'll go and examine the crash site".

"Hey wait! But what about me?" Spike asked frantically.

"Take the stuff back home, I'll be with you in a jiffy!" Twilight said back loudly as the three ponies began to race through the confused crowd.

"But a jiffy's not fast enough!" Spike called out before he vanished from sight between the masses who were all now talking about what they had just seen.

Twilight and her friends sprinted through the confused crowd towards Fluttershy's cottage, and in a matter of minutes they were knocking on the door.

"Fluttershy!" Twilight yelled. "Open up!"

The door creaked open slowly and a familiar pink mane peeked through.

"I-is it gone?"

"The meteorite? Yes, it's crashed somewhere nearby. We gotta go check it out!" Twilight said.

"B-but why?" Fluttershy asked. Clearly, she was terrified from the spectacle.

Twilight was about to respond when she heard hoofsteps behind her. She turned to see Applejack running frantically at her.

"Didja see that?" Applejack asked, panting heavily. "What the hay was it?"

"Well, according to Twilight it was a meteorite of some kind-" Rarity began.

"Actually, now that I think of it, I don't think it was" Twilight cut her off.

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.

"I don't know about you, but how often do you get meteorites crashing into Equestria? And so close to Ponyville? Also, did you look at it carefully? The…thing…didn't look like any rock at all. It looked a lot different." Twilight described the rock the way she saw it when it first flew overhead, including the color and shape. When she finished, the other ponies looked at her, confused.

"Well, if it wasn't a giant-flying-space-rock-that-caught-on-fire, what was it?" Pinkie questioned.

"I don't know. That's why I want to check the crash site. There's something wrong about this." Twilight answered.

Before anypony could say anything else, there was a flash of cyan and Rainbow Dash appeared next to them.

"Okay, will someone please explain to me what that was?" Rainbow asked, sounding irritated.

"Ya really need to pick yer timings better, Rainbow" Applejack said, reciprocating the pegasus's tone of voice. "Twilight here just finished explainin' ta us what it was".

"Well, excuse me if I wasn't on-" Rainbow started.

"Girls!" Twilight said loudly, cutting Rainbow off and hopefully defusing the situation. "Arguing about it won't help. Rainbow, I'll explain on the way there".

"Yeah, but where?" Rainbow asked.

"Umm" Fluttershy started, and Twilight raised a hoof for the others to know that she was talking. Fluttershy had a problem in that when she started talking, it would be in such a low voice that nopony could hear her.

"I think it crashed right in the Everfree forest" Fluttershy continued.

The other ponies looked uneasily at each other. Trips to the Everfree forest wouldn't generally be considered safe or normal. Despite them making it out every time in one piece, whenever they entered the forest they more often than not had to encounter quite a few problems, be it a crazed monster or even a pool of water that Twilight remembered clearly gave her and her friends a tremendous headache.

"Well, I guess that solves our little problem" Fluttershy said quickly "Hope to see you all again soon" and she shut the door – but not fast enough, for Twilight's hoof managed to stop the door from being closed completely.

"Oh, no you don't" she said sternly. "We're going together, as a team, to find out what it is."

Fluttershy whimpered, but Twilight's face suddenly softened and she opened the door a bit more.

"Hey, don't be scared. In case anything happens, we have each other" Twilight commented, and the other ponies stood behind her.

"Come on, Fluttershy, we'll be fine" Rainbow said confidently.

"Yep" Applejack put in "There ain't nothin' that oughta harm us if we stick tagether".

Fluttershy shook a little and looked at each pony before she finally gave a sigh.

"Very well, I'll come" she said.

"Great!" Twilight said excitedly. She turned to the others "Let's do it!"

The other ponies nodded with enthusiasm – all except Fluttershy, who was still having second thoughts about the whole deal – and together they set off for the Everfree forest.

All Twilight could think about was wondering about what they would find. So much for a completely normal day.


	7. Chapter 6–Return to the Everfree Forest

"Ooooh" Pinkie whispered, as they walked "Creepy".

"Tell meh 'bout it" Applejack said broodingly "No matter how many tamms we walk into this here forest, we never get used ta it. Ah mean, why is it we always gotta walk into the Everfree Forest whenever we get some sorta hiccup?"

"Just our luck, I suppose" Twilight responded.

The group traversed through the pathways ahead, deep within the dark Everfree forest, looking nervously left and right for anything that could attack them. Cockatrices, timberwolves, manticores. Maybe worse. Who knew what danger could be lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce on them when they least expected it? To make matters more tense, the only illumination came from gaps in the trees overhead, so even in the middle of the day with the blazing sun, the band had to squint their eyes to see between the tall trees ahead and to the side. Beyond those large timber structures, it was too dark to make out.

Applejack snorted "Huh. Some weird kinda luck that always lands us in this forsaken place. Couldn't it land on top of a mountain or somethin' at least?"

"Oh, heavens, no" Rarity shot in "I can't bear to trudge my way up the entire mountain just to get a look at some crashing rock".

"Better than this place, at least" Applejack responded.

Rarity opened her mouth, as if to say something, but then apparently agreed silently with Applejack's comment and closed it again.

Applejack wasn't the only one on edge from entering the forest. It had taken some effort to coax Fluttershy to joining in, and Rainbow was complaining about why she couldn't just fly over to the scene to see if it was worth checking out.

"Because we go together, as a team, Rainbow" Twilight pressed "That way, if anything should happen to us, we'll be together to deal with it".

"Fine, fine" Rainbow said, although she still didn't sound convinced. In fact, the only one who was really willing to take a look at the site was Twilight, owing to her curious nature. The others followed out of curiosity as well, although they did have second thoughts about the whole venture when they knew where they had to go to find it.

The six ponies walked through the forest in general silence. No one really felt like talking, seeing as they were too unnerved by the silence surrounding them to say anything. The dark forest combined with the light shining down at select places gave the forest an eerie feel not unlike when it was at night. Despite the random appearance of flowers from bush to bush, of many different colors and shapes, the most they could make out was dark shades of the colors of the forest, as well as the occasional white glow.

Twilight never liked the Everfree Forest. In fact, nopony did. The one redeeming quality about this forsaken place was that it was also the safe haven of one of her friends, Zecora, who lived near the edge. But they had passed her place already and were advancing deeper into the forest in search of the strange rock that crashed. And the more she and her friends walked, the more nervous she got. She couldn't remember the last time she went this deep, but one thing was for sure: she wasn't planning on going this far ever again. Not on her life-

CRACK.

Fluttershy and Rarity screamed, Applejack jumped, and Pinkie Pie yelped and jumped up to grab on the branch of the nearby tree. Twilight felt as though an electric shock had jolted through her and instinctively swiveled into the direction of the sound, waiting for the hidden beast to make its move.

But all she saw was Applejack standing, next to a broken twig, with Rainbow hovering above her looking irritable. In the shock of the moment, Fluttershy had jumped onto Rarity and was squeezing her by the neck, and the latter was trying to hold on as much as she could without falling.

"Oops" Applejack said with an embarrassed smile "Ma bad".

Twilight shook her head "Girls, we need to be more careful about where we step. We don't know what could be up ahead, you know we've never been this deep in the forest before!"

FWUMP.

Twilight yelped and whirled around again, horn readied and pointing – at Pinkie, who had dropped down and landed on her feet like a cat. She began to giggle.

"Come on, Twilight!" she said, between chortles "You're too serious about this! Put a smiley-wiley on your face!" whereupon she grabbed the edges of Twilight's mouth and pushed them back into a huge grin. She swatted Pinkie's hooves away and shook her head so that her mouth would regain normal size, but she chuckled nevertheless. Soon enough, everypony was laughing and the mood was considerably lifted.

"That's the spirit!" Pinkie announced happily "Now let's get huntin'!"

The others nodded in agreement and together they set off again, continuing their adventure into the dark reaches of the forest.

"Ah just wonder what we would find in there once we do arrive" Applejack questioned out loud to the group.

"Maybe it'll be just what it was when it came flying through the sky: a giant rock" Rainbow said, clearly still unimpressed by the collective effort.

"Maybe it could be a giant crystal of some kind" Rarity put in, and then looked up through the sky "Oh, how wonderful it would be to find a gem of that size! Especially since it came from up above, it would be magnificent!"

"Yeah, well how did it burn up then?" Rainbow asked, one eyebrow raised. Rarity realized the problem with her hypothesis and quickly put the lid on it.

"Well, if something falls through the atmosphere at a high enough speed, it does burn up because of the intense friction" Twilight stated, as if reciting word by word from a dictionary (which, if it was the case, wouldn't be surprising to the others at all) "But it didn't look like any crystal at all. Something more…metallic".

"Maybe it's mareliens" said a small voice from behind.

All heads turned to Fluttershy, who looked back "Well, maybe it is. We don't know, since we still didn't get close".

"Mareliens? Phooey" Applejack scoffed, waving her hoof around "There ain't no such thing".

"How do you know?" came an ominous voice from the forest.

Everypony instantly froze. Fluttershy and Rarity suddenly zipped next to Pinkie, shivering.

"Wh-who said that?" Rarity squeaked.

"The one who knows" the voice answered back menacingly. Twilight looked around trying to find out where the voice was from, but there was nothing. She could tell there was something familiar about that voice as well. And then she realized what was going on.

"Kn-knows about what?" Pinkie called back. Even she was afraid.

"About the mareliens you refuse to believe in" the voice continued, chilling the three ponies down to their spines.

"Th-they're r-r-real?" Fluttershy squealed, her pupils shrinking.

"Oh, indeed they are" the voice answered, with a hint of malice in its voice "For I have encountered them. The most terrifying creatures in existence, devoid of mercy or compassion. They feast on the innocent, take entire planets effortlessly, and inspire terror throughout all who hear of them. For those who know about these devilish machines scarcely live to tell the tale!"

Pinkie was shaking so hard it was as if her tail was extra-twitching. Rarity was looking around frantically, trying to find the source of the sound, to no avail. Fluttershy was whimpering.

"For these terrifying robots move onwards, emotionlessly, destroying everything in their path, giving no quarter. All that can be remembered from them…"

The voice was steadily getting closer, and the three ponies were now on the verge of breaking down.

"…the blue eyes, the flashing lights, and most of all, their most dreaded battle cry…"

Pinkie looked up and her pupils dilated. Her other two companions looked up and stopped moving, frozen in stark terror,

Two purple eyes stared down at them from the darkness above. Suddenly, something burst from above, charging at the three helpless ponies.

"EXTERMINATE!"

All three ponies screamed and zoomed off in opposite directions, hiding in the bushes and shaking so hard the bushes themselves looked as if they were shedding.

Rainbow Dash sat in the spot where they had dispersed from, rolling from side to side and howling with laughter.

"Rainbow!" Applejack yelled furiously. Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy peered from the bushes and saw who their adversary was. Although Rarity was less than happy and Fluttershy was still shaken, Pinkie joined Rainbow in guffawing.

"That was really good, Rainbow! You had me really scared" Pinkie said cheerfully.

"Ya really think so?" Rainbow said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.

Twilight was on the verge of scolding Rainbow along with Applejack, but upon seeing Pinkie's reaction, she joined in with a light chuckle. Rainbow and Pinkie really did get along well with pranks.

"You okay, Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked.

"U-umm" Fluttershy stuttered, still in shock from the unexpected joke "I-I-I th-think" she managed to finish.

Rainbow let out a sigh of relief. Fluttershy was quite sensitive to pranks, even if they were a tad harmless.

"But I still think maybe it's mareliens." Fluttershy asserted, after calming down.

"What makes you say that, darling?" Rarity asked.

"I don't know, it's just a feeling, I guess" Fluttershy said.

"Ya know, maybe you're right!" Pinkie exclaimed "Which leads to a big problem".

Everypony looked at her "Why?"

Pinkie looked at them all as if they had just said they could climb up a tree by floating up there "Why, I don't know what to make for their 'Marelien Welcome Party', sillies!"

Applejack and Rainbow rolled their eyes. Typical.

"We still haven't even found the place yet" Twilight said "We can't say for certain what it could be until we find it. And I seriously doubt it could be mareliens" Twilight added, with a slight twinge of an annoyed voice "Otherwise, why haven't they visited us directly?"

"Maybe their big spaceship-thingy crashed?" Pinkie suggested.

Applejack looked around "And Ahm assumin' that y'all think that big rock thing that jus' flew by could be yer spaceboat thing?" she said, her voice filled with exasperated doubt.

"It's possible" Pinkie said cheerfully "I wonder what they'll look like".

"Well, they'll most certainly not be like what Rainbow described" Rarity said, shooting a resentful look at the multicolored pegasus, who returned with a sly smile "Perhaps somepony more…graceful, or unique. Not murderous or destructive".

"Maybe it'll be a creature who knows all about the universe" Twilight put forward excitedly "I'll bet it would be wise, and strong, and very knowledgeable, with a weird gurgly voice, and would possess the power to summon electricity" Twilight had no idea what made her say the last part, but she just thought it added a nice touch. Besides, it would get their attention more and drift their focus away from Rainbow's prank.

"Whatdya think it'll look like?" Applejack asked.

Twilight closed her eyes for a second, trying to find the best physical description for what she just said.

"Tall, three arms, one big red eye, a bit of a hunchback, brown skin, but it would be a nice guy, it would really be helpful and kind" she said.

"It still sounds rather scary" Rarity said uneasily.

"Well, if you think about it, the very idea of mareliens is a bit scary" Twilight said.

"I suppose, but wouldn't it be nice to have an alien that didn't LOOK terrifying, at least?" Rarity answered.

"Don't judge a book by the cover" was Twilight's answer "What do YOU think they would look like?" she asked.

Rarity thought for a moment "Hmm, I suppose they would be tall, graceful, blue skin, and wise as well, with glowing blue eyes, and very honorable" she said slowly.

"That's it?" Twilight said.

"Well, it would also be a great warrior, but not a mindless killer like what Rainbow described" she explained "and it would be very strong and fast, and what not. But it wouldn't harm unless it was threatened".

"For once, ya didn't mention fashion in somethin'" Applejack quipped with a grin, earning a dirty look from the white unicorn.

"Why do all the mareliens we talk about have to involve violence in some way?" asked Fluttershy, a bit unsettled by how the conversation was going.

"Well, we don't know what they're like so we make stuff up I guess" Pinkie said, bouncing "It's fun!"

Twilight took another look around at the environment, and suddenly noticed something was missing for the second time.

"Hey, where did Rainbow go?" Twilight asked.

Everypony looked around. The pegasus had vanished.

Fluttershy began to tremble "Where did she go?"

Twilight had just opened her mouth to answer when she heard a voice call through the woods, somewhere to her left.

"Hey, guys!"

Twilight turned to the source of the sound.

"Rainbow?" she called back.

"Remember when we were wondering about what the mareliens looked like?" her voice rang through the trees.

Twilight looked back on her friends with confusion and saw her expression reciprocated on their faces as well.

"What about that?"

"I think I know what they look like".

Twilight let the last sentence sink in. Everypony fell silent. Even their breathing held.

"W-what do you mean?" Twilight called back, unsure if she heard Rainbow correctly.

"Just get over here, Twilight. Fast" Rainbow called back, sounding more urgent.

The previous conversations forgotten, Twilight and the group began to run in the direction of Rainbow's voice, but it was only after they had advanced several meters did Twilight collapse to the ground, coughing. There was a powerful stench of smoke lingering in the air that overwhelmed the unicorn and brought her to the ground in a coughing fit, joined in quickly by her friends. If she had expected this, she wouldn't have run so fast. The smoke was so powerful, her eyes started to tear up and she began to wheeze. She rolled onto her back and began to choke hard, hearings similar voices from her friends around her.

A few seconds later, Twilight saw two purple eyes staring at her from above. Only this time instead of malice, panic filled them.

"Twilight! What are you doing, sitting around here?!" Rainbow yelled, dragging Twilight through the ground. She mentally pulled herself together, took a short breath, shook her head and flipped around to stand up. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she looked around and saw her friends in varying states of getting it together as well. Fluttershy and Rarity were shaking as they stood while Applejack and Pinkie were standing but still looked weak from the sudden hit of the smell.

"Rainbow, what's goin' on?" Applejack asked, rasping for air.

"I can't explain it, you gotta come!" Rainbow said, and before anypony could ask any more questions she took off into the forest. Twilight gestured towards her friends. "Come on, let's go".

And together they ran, but this time it was not as fast, and a bit more controlled, so they could take smaller breaths. Too big and they would start choking again, too small and they would become exhausted very quickly.

Suddenly, Twilight crashed into Rainbow, who had come to a halt in front of her, knocking her over. She was just getting up, about to apologize profusely, when she saw the scene in front of her felt the words in her throat vanish into nothingness.

They were in a small clearing in the forest, although it was only a clearing because it was nothing but a giant crater. In the middle lay a giant grey egg-like capsule that was apparently the source of the smoke, and had one part of the shell cracked open, although it was in a very geometric pattern, with it being a giant rectangular hole. Inside, smoke seemed to billow out as it rose towards the sky, and Twilight could discern beeping noises from inside. At the edge of the crater, a strange shape extended out, grey but ending in black at the edge.

Twilight glanced back at her friends, who looked at her apprehensively, sharing her thought. _What if there was something living there?_ She then brought her gaze back to this strange spectacle, and slowly began to walk towards the egg, waiting for something to pop up. Only when she reached the edge did her blood freeze.

She had seen what the shape was. And she was where it was coming from.

There indeed was a creature there. Only she wasn't sure if it was alive or not. But there was no mistaking those facial features that formed the eyes (that were now closed), nose, mouth, and ears, no mistaking the strange form of the shape that gave every assurance that it was a body of some kind, no mistaking the four protrusions that showed that they were limbs. Strange reddish hair came flowing down around her head, although she couldn't see any of her skin other than a little bit at the end of two of the limbs, the ones closer to the head. And speaking of limbs, they ended in a very strange way: the ones with some skin showing ended in a round but flat shape with five more protrusions extending from each, while the other two just ended in a long extension perpendicular to the limbs.

Twilight was shaking, both physically and on the inside. _What am I supposed to do?_ A streak of red liquid was running down the creature's head. It was injured and out cold.

She looked back at her friends, although she was just considering opening her mouth to call them over when they immediately ran over. It probably was the facial expression that brought them in, and she wouldn't be surprised if it was.

"Twilight, what in t-" Applejack began, but upon seeing the body she stopped and stared, mouth gaping open. Fluttershy was shaking heavily and looked on the verge of passing out. Pinkie Pie was breathing heavily, looking back and forth between the egg and the body (Twilight sincerely hoped it wouldn't be a corpse), panic etched all over her face. Even Rainbow Dash seemed distraught out of her wits.

Before anypony could do anything, the creature stirred and they all froze.

The first thing they could hear was a moan coming from the mouth of the creature. Twilight stared at her face and her pupils contracted when the head began to move from side to side. The eyes flickered and opened, as another groan escaped the creature's lips.

Twilight found herself looking into the eyes of the creature. They were small and blue, and spoke of pain. A streak of red ran down the side of its face from the top of its head, something Twilight was sure wasn't hair. They stared at one another for a few seconds before the creature uttered a single word.

"H-h-help…"

Its eyelids closed again and its head rolled to the side as the creature descended into unconsciousness again. Twilight looked back at her friends, who were all looking at them both. Twilight could clearly see the worry etched upon all their faces.

"W-what do we do now?" she asked, her voice quivering.

Her friends looked back at her, mirroring her distress, lost in words.


	8. Chapter 7 – The Ponies and the Human

"She's still asleep" Fluttershy said as she closed the door behind her, her pet bunny Angel bouncing beside her. "It's been a whole day, are you sure she isn't…you know…"

Twilight walked up to the sleeping figure, placed her hoof on the creature's neck, and shook her head "Can't be, I feel her pulse. She's still alive, just…out cold".

It had been a full day after the crash, and the marelien was still out. They didn't know what to call her, but they knew from now that it looked like a 'her'; she had the distinctive features that would put her across as resembling a mare more than a colt. Unfortunately, she was still unconscious from the crash, and they were unable to wake up her up as of yet. It was at Applejack's suggestion that she be moved to Fluttershy's cottage (much to the poor pegasus's dismay). When it was evident that the alien was going to stay out for some time, they tucked her up into the couch with a blanket on her, just in case she got cold in the night, with an ice bag on her head for the injury, and everypony went off to bed. As soon as the alarms struck the next day, everypony headed off back to Fluttershy for updates. The ice bag was removed, seeing as according to Fluttershy it had gotten a little better, and all they were doing now was pacing around the room waiting for something to happen, anything. Pinkie was missing, for some odd reason, and so the routine quickly became dull.

"Well, she'd better wake up sometime soon" Rainbow put in, a hint of annoyance in her voice "I don't like the looks of her".

"Me neither" Applejack said, with a similar tone in her voice.

"Look, we can't say anything about her until she actually wakes up" Twilight interjected "We have a LOT of questions to ask her".

"Like what?" Rainbow asked, still frowning.

Twilight opened her mouth, and then stopped. Not because she didn't have anything to ask her, but because she had _too much_ to ask her. What she was, who she was, where she was from, what was out there, what that weird machine was. A million questions were flooding her mind, and she was sure that an answer to any of those questions would bring up another dozen questions. She didn't even know where to begin.

Thankfully, Rarity started for her "First of all, we need to understand more about her. Let us start with a simple 'Who are you, and where do you come from?'"

"Yeah, but," Fluttershy said quietly "Shouldn't we ask her first if she's all right or not? I mean, she could still be nervous from the crash and stuff". Beside her, Angel was looking at the couch grumpily. The whole affair was probably driving poor Fluttershy to her wits, but the effects didn't seem to stray from Angel either.

"Well…yes, of course we'll ask her that, Fluttershy, don't be silly" Rarity responded, a bit awkwardly from forgetting that question.

"Yeah, but then what?" Rainbow said, her suspicion not abating from the conversation going on in front of her "How do we know she's not gonna start killing us as soon as she gets up? I mean, falling asleep and then waking up surrounded by ponies you don't know anything about, that's not very comforting. And what if she speaks a different language? How can we understand her?"

"Rainbow, I'm no expert, but it doesn't look as though she's holding any weapons on her" Twilight countered, pointing at the body. Sure, she was dressed in what appeared to be military apparel, but that didn't guarantee the presence of anything dangerous to them. Royal Guards always wore armor but didn't necessarily carry weapons. "And if she can't understand what we're saying, then I think we ought to talk to her a bit less aggressively than what you're doing, Rainbow" she added, sounding irritated at her friend's hyper yet paranoid approach.

"Even then" Applejack entered the fray "What kinda machine is that anyhow? That don't look like no peace ship ta me. We shoulda left her there instead of bringin' her back".

"Way ahead of you, AJ" Rainbow agreed "I mean, why bring her back here and put her with us if she's probably something dangerous? Why not leave her in the forest instead?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow. Outside, she was composed, but on the inside she was filled with indignant fury. "Oh, and I suppose leaving her in the forest to die or potentially hurt somepony if she WAS dangerous is a better idea?" she said in a controlled voice but made sure at least part of her disapproval was evident in her tone.

Rainbow and Applejack looked at each other for a second uneasily. Then Applejack began.

"Ah never thought of it like that. We didn't mean it like that, sugarcube."

"Yeah, Twilight" Rainbow said "We didn't want to hurt her or anything. We're just…you know…" she trailed off, unable to find the best words to describe her feelings without making her seem weak.

"I know" Twilight said, her anger deflating "But I just want you guys to think a little more about the situation before you start talking like that. Besides, we'd be leaving a strange marelien wandering around by herself throughout the Everfree Forest. This is our chance to learn more about what's out there!" her voice slowly rose to match her ebbing frustration and growing enthusiasm.

"Here we go again" Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. Twilight ignored her.

"I mean, this is the final proof that life DOES exist out there" she pressed on "What could we learn from them? Maybe they could have developed certain kinds of technology that would tremendously advance our civilization! Or maybe they have some kind of rare resource that we could benefit from! The possibilities are endless!"

She was greatly excited at the prospect. The fact that this being came from another world beyond Equestria opened up new possibilities for helping all of ponykind and then some. The strange capsule that came with the crash was proof of this. They were definitely advanced, that was a given. And with the stranger came the possibility of contact with them. That was one thing she was looking forward to eagerly.

"Even if we did get in contact with them outsiders" Applejack started, putting a damper on Twilight's prospects as usual, even if her comments did make sense "How are we supposed ta convince 'em to lend us some o' that stuff?"

"You're forgetting, Applejack" Rarity put in "That Princess Celestia is an expert diplomat and negotiator. She'll be able to convince them that we only intend them for peaceful purposes, nothing more.

"Umm…girls?" came a small squeak.

"Yeah, but if we're talking on INTERGALACTIC scale negotiations, how is she going to convince them?" Rainbow asked, throwing her hooves up in the air "What's to say they won't suddenly swoop in on us and wipe us all to dust?"

"That's your paranoia acting up again, Rainbow" Twilight said, a twinge of irritation in her voice once again "Just try to calm down. You're getting too worried".

"_Too worried!?_" Rainbow yelled indignantly "You can't be _too worried_ about stuff like this! I'm worrying exactly the right amount! I REALLY think you should send a letter to the Princess at least! She HAS to know what's going on!"

"…girls?"

"No you're not! You're about to go crazy now! And I'd rather know more about what she is and what she's like before I send anything" Twilight answered, outraged.

"Twilight, please, try to calm yourself" Rarity said quickly, trying to defuse the situation "You too, Rainbow"

"Rainbow, you may have a point in getting' scared-" Applejack started.

"_Scared!?_" Rainbow shouted again, even more indignant than before "I'm not scared, just concerned! For all we know we could be invaded right now and we wouldn't know about it!"

"Ah know!" Applejack added her voice to the din "But yellin' 'bout it ain't gonna solve anythin'!"

Twilight let out a loud groan of frustration, then turned to Fluttershy.

"For Celestia's sake, Fluttershy, make them-"

And she stopped. The others were still arguing until Applejack looked their way and forcibly turned Rainbow's head to the direction Twilight was looking at, shutting her up instantly. Angel bounded behind Fluttershy, looking apprehensive.

Fluttershy was breathing heavily, and trembling all over "I w-was trying t-to call you g-girls, b-b-but…" her voice trailed off.

All curiosity of the great beyond vanished instantly from Twilight's mind as she looked at the new scene with a mixture of uncertainty, fear, and wonder.

Staring back her were two blue eyes, coming from the newcomer lying in the sofa, eyes wide open. Her facial expression was filled with surprise, which slowly gave way to shock as she took in the scene in front of her.

Lying on a couch, covered by a blanket. Inside a strange house, surrounded by strange creatures she had probably never seen before. Absolutely nothing familiar in sight.

All the ponies had their mouths open, wanting say something. But what, they didn't know. Silence stretched onwards, one of the most unsettling Twilight ever had to endure. The tension around them was so thick she thought she could cut through it with a knife. It was just the ponies staring at the lost marelien, and her staring back.

It was Rarity who broke the ice. She walked up to the couch, reached a hoof out to her, slowly but surely, and said, softly but audibly "Are you all right, darling?"

On hindsight, that may not have been the best of options.

As soon as the words escaped Rarity's mouth, the occupant let out a gasp of shock and jolted upwards and backwards, accidentally knocking over a lamp that was next to her on a small table and sending it crashing to the ground. She screamed and tried to stand up, but got tangled in the sheets and instead tripped backwards over the couch and fell on the floor. Fluttershy squealed loudly and ran for the nearby closet, holding Angel in her hooves, slamming it shut behind her. The creature stood back up again, clutching one of the quilts that was covering her, and, gasping for breath and under pressure, looked left and right and found what she was looking for.

The door.

She made a beeline for it, vaulting over the couch and sprinting for the door with such speed, dragging the quilt with her, before anypony could think twice about what had happened.

"Oh no you don't!"

Rainbow was there fast as lightning and stood in front of the door, teeth bared and brows furrowed, staring at the terrified animal with all the suspicion she could muster venting out through her eyes.

"Where do you think you're going, huh?" Rainbow snarled.

"Wh-wh-" she began, but never managed to speak.

Rainbow extended her wings and lifted herself off the ground, bringing herself to eye level with the being in front of her "You heard me the first time!"

Suddenly regaining sense of what was occurring, Applejack shouted "Rainbow! What in tarnation dya' think yer doin'?!"

"Really, Rainbow Dash, I would have thought you would behave in a more civilized manner now that the poor thing is awake!" Rarity said reproachfully.

"Hey, don't give me that now!" Rainbow said angrily, pointing a hoof "She was running for the door right now! You saw it! She was probably thinking about raising pandemonium in Ponyville! Maybe even hurt somepony or something! Why are you yelling at me?!"

"Because yer goin' crazy again!" Applejack said fiercely "Yer drivin' that gal nuts before she's had tamm ta think! Ya think yellin' at her's gonna help anythin'?"

"No, but she'll think twice before going crazy like that again!" Rainbow replied stubbornly.

"Rainbow, this kind of thinking is beyond reason" Rarity said heatedly "What in Equestria could have driven you to-"

"ENOUGH!"

Her own shout had surprised even her. There was a crash in the far side of the room and Fluttershy and Angel spilled out of the closet, looking up at the source of the yell, the pony with anxiety and the rabbit with annoyance. Rainbow froze halfway through conjuring up a counter, and Applejack and Rarity snapped their attention to Twilight.

Twilight walked up to her and said, in a low voice "It's okay, don't worry. We won't hurt you".

Her facial expression of surprise didn't change, and she stuttered a bit before she could finally come up with a sentence "Y-y-you can talk?"

Twilight turned to her friends, who exchanged glances of confusion with each other. She returned her gaze.

"Yes, we can, and I assure you we mean no harm. In fact, we kept you here until you could recover from your injuries. Are you feeling better?"

She raised her…hoof? Hand, it seemed, Twilight had seen such appendages with other animals. Carefully, she rubbed her head through the red hair where the ice bag was placed and winced slightly.

"I'm feeling a little better now, thank you" she said, still uneasy. Twilight tried to smooth the situation.

"Good. We found you in a crash spaceship in the Everfree Forest, near our town. Who are you, and what happened?"

There. Hopefully now she would get some results, slowly calm the being down, and gain her trust, as well as help her with whatever situation she was in.

She slowly breathed and looked around at the strangers in the room, from Twilight, staring at her in such a manner as if she was barely restraining her excitement, to Rainbow, who was still glancing at her suspiciously, to Fluttershy, who hadn't bothered with looking at all. She took a deep breath.

"My name is Rena Loor. I am a human from a faraway place. What are you?" she said, a bit more confidently, yet still not fully there.

Twilight ignored the slight from the way she questioned their identity, and said "I am Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack", pointing to each respective friend as she announced their names "Right now, you're in Fluttershy's house, which was the closest to the Everfree Forest. That's why we brought you here. We're called ponies."

She let the last word hang in the air, waiting for Rena to respond. Deep down, her insides were trembling with elation. _A new species!_ She thought to herself. _I can't wait till Princess Celestia knows about this!_

Rena tilted her head to the side, still holding the quilt "Ponies?"

"Yep" Twilight said "but there are different kinds of ponies. Applejack here is an Earth pony, your average kind of pony. Then there's Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, who have wings, we call them pegasi, or pegasus if you're only talking about one. Then there's Rarity and I, unicorns, who have horns on their head from which they can use magic" she gestured to each pony respectively as she spoke.

For a split second, Twilight saw a flash of curiosity in Rena's eyes at the mention of the word 'magic', but she then appeared interested one more.

"Wow…well…" she said, a bit awkwardly, and Twilight couldn't blame her. Encountering a whole new species must be very overwhelming for somepony (or, in Rena's case, someone), especially after said someone had been through an accident "Where am I again?" she asked again, still uncertainly.

Twilight didn't mind answering her questions. Seeing as though she was new to this whole land, she might as well know what she was going to expect when she was around here. "Well, you're in a land we call Equestria. More specifically, you're in a village we call Ponyville, which is where we live. We-"

She was just about to talk about Canterlot and Princess Celestia, however, when Rainbow Dash, whose patience was already running thin, exploded into another tirade.

"Okay, okay, enough with you asking the questions" she blurted out "Can we start asking YOU questions now?"

Rena was totally bewildered from the sudden outburst, and took a step back "Well, umm, I-"

"You what?" Rainbow pressed on "Who are you? Where are you from? Why are you here?"

Twilight was just about to tell Rainbow off again when she noticed Rena's expression change. Her eyebrows furrowed together, she closed her mouth, she took a deep breath and sighed, and she stared at the ground, blinking several times. Surprise was enveloped by somber and resignation. Twilight recognized this expression: when someone had something on their mind that was bugging them considerably but didn't want to discuss it. And sure enough, Rena confirmed this.

"I-I don't want to talk about it" she said finally, still staring away, fiddling with the quilt.

This time, it was Rainbow's turn to be taken aback. She looked at Rena no longer with distrust but with concern "W-what do you mean-"

"I mean what I said!" Rena said, loudly all of a sudden. Everypony in the room was taken by surprise, and Rena suddenly realized what she said.

"I'm sorry about that, i-it's just that I…" she trailed off, silently, with nothing else to say.

Rainbow was now thoroughly embarrassed. She nervously looked back and forth from Applejack to Fluttershy and from Rarity to Twilight. All of their faces had disapproval written all over it. But berating Rainbow would come later. Right now, Twilight had to focus on Rena.

"Well…" Twilight began.

Rena turned back to look at her, no longer timid but not upset either.

"Okay" Twilight continued, a bit more confidently "Seeing as though you're new to Equestria, and you've obviously been through a lot, I think we should show you around. I don't know if we can ever get your transport fixed but it looks like you're gonna be here for some time, so I believe its best you know more about where we are and how we live".

The newcomer apparently did not expect this, and she blinked for a second "Wait, what? You mean it? But…" she asked, sounding a bit uneasy "Won't everyone…or everypony… get scared?"

"For a moment" Twilight nodded "But it doesn't seem as though you'll harm us, so we'll get used to you. Maybe we could even be friends!" she finished enthusiastically.

Rena looked back for a while, and then turned to examine the room. Rainbow was once again taken by surprise at this, and even Applejack seemed uncertain, but Rarity flashed an encouraging beam and even Fluttershy looked at her as if to say "Go on", albeit a bit meekly. Rena looked back at Twilight and smiled warmly.

"I think that would be lovely."


	9. Chapter 8 – An Old Friend

In the Jedi Praxeum, on the planet Yavin IV, Luke Skywalker gazed out of the window in the room into the sky.

_Infinite blackness_, he thought. That was what space was.

Of course, the stark simplicity of space hid with it the billions of planets and stars, the trillions of souls that lived their lives out there. It was amusing to Luke how it seemed like only weeks he was gazing up into the skies above Tatooine, thinking with wonder what the stars would be like, and how desperate he was to leave the desert planet. It was on one particular day that he was wishing this that he got what he wanted; two droids and a Jedi Master later, he was battling the Empire for the sake of the galaxy itself. From Tatooine to Yavin, he fought the Empire on the run, making new friends and losing others, always on the move. Coruscant, Dantooine, Endor, Bespin, Hoth, everywhere, fighting to free the Galaxy from the clutches of the Emperor.

And now, after so many years, here he was once again, back on Yavin.

Months since the signing of the peace treaty, promising an end to hostilities and the beginning of open relations between the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant. Years after the end of the Emperor and Vader. Decades since his life on Tatooine.

And here he was, gazing out into the black, a feeling of emptiness taking root in his stomach.

He shouldn't be feeling this way. He had only married Mara Jade a few weeks ago, in the backdrop of peace in the Galaxy for the first time in nearly forty years, and yet he felt it anyway. It wasn't so much the peace treaty with the people that brought ruin to the Galaxy and corrupted his father, murdered his aunt and uncle, destroyed entire planets, so much as it was something else. Something he couldn't quite place.

A sense of foreboding, a feeling of danger.

He had trained with the Force ever since he discovered he was a Jedi, and thus had honed his skills to the point that he could sense ripples in the Force emanating from good or evil. He remembered the words of Yoda, many years ago.

_For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is._

Unfortunately, Yoda had passed away a year after they had first met, owing to the small Jedi's old age. Even so, Luke was able shortly thereafter to defy the expectations of Obi-Wan and Yoda and bring back his father from the clutches of the Dark Side. With the Emperor and Vader dead and the Second Death Star destroyed, the Empire was shattered beyond repair. The Dark Side had been vanquished with the death of Palpatine once again, less than a decade ago over Byss, and after many years of darkness the Galaxy was finally fully free from the grasp of evil.

_You really think so?_ came a voice from within.

Luke recognized the voice.

_You again_, he thought.

_Yes, me again. Because you know full well that I can never be destroyed._

_ But you were driven to defeat and near extinction, when you had the Galaxy on its knees._

_ Key word is NEAR extinction. It may take yet another thousand years, but we will be back._

_ And even when you return, we will be waiting to throw you back into the abyss from where you came._

_ We will see._

The voice vanished as soon as it had appeared, leaving Luke alone once again with his thoughts.

He looked up at the sky, into the darkness. Despite the glaring black, he could make out the silhouettes of frigates and fighters on their patrols, or transports ascending and descending, transporting supplies to and fro, rising and lowering into the foliage and the night. This night was as quiet as any other night, bar the occasional distant chatter of forest animals and the low humming of engines as a freighter zoomed into space or slowed to a stop as it landed, which occurred on all other nights anyway.

It was almost as routine as Tatooine had once been. But Luke reminded himself that he had gone a long way since the desert planet. He had become a Jedi, joined the Rebel Alliance at its darkest hour, and helped to bring down the greatest Sith in the history of the Force. He had even done what was previously thought impossible: bring back Anakin Skywalker from the dreaded ashes of Darth Vader. Obi-Wan Kenobi had told him on Dagobah that Vader was beyond redemption, and was adamant that Anakin was completely lost, and yet Luke had managed to prove him wrong – almost at the cost of his own life.

And then there was his sister.

Luke remembered the first time he met Leia, on the first Death Star when he and his companions were captured by the Empire. His first impression of her was that she was stunningly beautiful. His second was that she had quite the attitude. Her first words to him were still on his mind.

_Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?_

It took Luke a second to comprehend what she was saying, and then he immediately revealed himself to her. Leia seemed skeptical until he mentioned Obi-Wan, at which point she was much more enthusiastic about getting off the station.

They managed to free her in the end, but Luke remembered the events too well because he had lost Obi-Wan as well, the old Jedi sacrificing himself at the hands of Vader to allow his friends time to escape. Even now, Luke remembered what had happened all too vividly: Obi-Wan's blue lightsaber clashing with Vader's red as they circled one another; Luke stopping on the way to the _Falcon_ when he saw his mentor; Obi-Wan turning to face Luke, and his smile.

He smiled. He knew he was going to die. He welcomed it, and he smiled anyways.

Luke had never forgotten that.

When Vader's blade cut through Obi-Wan's robe, turning him into nothingness, Luke had screamed in horror and denial. It was all he could do. He had lost his uncle, his aunt, his father, and now his mentor, the one being who could help him. In his shock, he was nearly killed by oncoming Imperial soldiers, attacking them as they were fleeing. They had managed to escape, but even then, Luke couldn't bring himself to smile properly, even after their daring escape through the outer patrols.

But then came the trench run, and Obi-Wan spoke. At first, Luke thought it was a figment of his imagination, a fragment of his memories with the old Jedi Master. But then there was the trench run on the Death Star, which was seconds away from firing at the last hope of the Galaxy. He was all alone on this run, his friends either driven off or torn apart by Imperial fighters, pursued relentlessly by Vader and his TIEs. And he heard him again.

_Use the Force, Luke. Let go!_

It wasn't a memory. It was Obi-Wan, speaking to him.

Luke was certain that he would never make it to the end of the trench before his pursuers turned his X-wing to scrap. But just as the lead ship fired, it had spun out of control, its two wingmates dissolving into burnt oxygen and pieces of steel. Luke heard the familiar, cocky yell over the intercom as the freighter zoomed in over his head.

_You're all clear, kid, now let's blow this thing and go home!_

And then he fired those torpedoes.

Even now, Luke didn't know how he did it. And yet he did. The torpedoes entered the exhaust port and found their mark, turning the giant battlestation into one of the greatest fireballs Luke had ever encountered in his life.

His memory fast-forwarded to the day that Vader showed himself for what he really was, in the dark pits of Cloud City. When he had learned the truth, he simply refused to believe it. It was impossible. He simply could not accept the fact that this man, who had killed so many and destroyed so much, who had murdered his father according to his mentor, could possibly _be_ his father. Rather than join Vader, as the Sith Lord had wished, Luke barely managed to escape. Pursued by Vader aboard the _Executor_, Luke, Leia, and their allies had hit the hyperdrive at the last second. But just before they did so, Vader spoke to Luke through the Force, and Luke finally understood.

Vader _was_ his father.

The one question on his mind, however, was not _how_, but _why_?

Why hadn't Obi-Wan told him?

Luke felt the familiar sensation creep in on him, as if suddenly he submerged in ice. A feeling of cold dread coming up on him, enveloping him from shoulder to toe, spreading out towards his fingertips.

He recognized the feeling.

_You again._ He repeated in his head.

_Me again._

He remembered this feeling from Tatooine, when he was training with the Force after the events on Bespin. On recalling events from Dagobah or Cloud City involving Vader, Luke would feel the recognizable touch of the Dark Side tempting him, showing him a different way.

_I've grown since you last tried. And when you try again, I will be stronger._

_ Doesn't mean I can't stop trying. And doesn't mean I can't take others,_ came the reply.

_ It's a losing battle, and you know it._

_ A losing battle, perhaps. But the war is far from over._

And with this, the icy feeling dissipated slowly, abandoning Luke once more.

Confronting Obi-Wan the next year, immediately, following the death of Master Yoda, the Jedi Master confessed that, in a manner of speaking, he was right. Vader _had_ consumed Anakin Skywalker, killing him in the process. He also confirmed Luke's suspicions: Leia was indeed his sister.

That surprised him. The princess, the one he had rescued on the Death Star, whom he had accompanied all this time to fight the Empire, was his sibling. It took Luke a while to come to grips with this, but in the end, he had accepted this, much as he had with Vader's truth.

And now here he was. Leading a new foray of Jedi with the help of his sister, the Emperor long gone and the Empire unofficially surrendering, with peace and freedom once more singing their tunes throughout the vast reaches of the Galaxy.

And yet there still remained that feeling.

He sighed. This staring into space did little to soften his tensions. Might as well try to meditate, and hopefully, by communicating with the Force, he would be able to understand what was wrong.

He looked around him, taking in the vast circular chamber he was currently in. A corridor behind him led to the exit, which was closed at the moment. The ground and walls were decorated with Massassi symbols and artwork, seeing as this was once a temple for the now-extinct race. Other than that, the room was empty and eventless.

Luke sat in the middle, crossed his legs, and looked out the window once more. The darkness had not changed, neither had the foliage. Neither had the stars, or the large red planet, or the feeling of foreboding inside him.

He felt confident. He wouldn't be disturbed from anyone while meditating, and it was time to get some answers.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.

Darkness enclosed his vision for a split second before images and voices swirled through his mind at breakneck speed, most of them appearing too fast for Luke to process. He had recognized a few from past experiences in the mists of the Force, but there were always the unfamiliar, and more often than not they outnumbered the familiar.

_A giant black-and-red spider battling a green serpent in a majestic yet ruined throne room._

_A planet melting into the surrounding darkness._

_A fortress exploding out of a sea of black and rising into the sky._

_A strange four-legged creature wandering a deserted and ruined hall, observing a fountain of red._

_A castle set in mountain covered in fire._

Faster and faster they got, until finally they stopped, and Luke opened his eyes.

He was sitting in a circular room, with chairs embedded in the ground and encircling the center, where he stood, facing a particularly small chair. Around the room were windows, covering three-quarters of the thin walls while the last fourth of the room's edge was taken up by a small door which was directly behind him. A large circle with spires facing inwards towards another circle with geometric shapes on it decorated the ground on which he sat. Luke looked outside and saw the dark shadows of the tall buildings piercing the sky, which was black and cloudless. Judging by the cityscape, he surmised he was in a tall tower in the middle of the city-planet of Coruscant. And judging by the cityscape, he deduced he was in the council chamber of the old Jed Temple, which was in ruins when it was retaken by the Alliance.

_Back to the beginning_, he thought.

_Why?_

Luke stood and walked forwards, closer to one of the windows, and took a long, hard look outside. The city seemed empty. There were no lights, no sounds, no disturbances of any kind. Even the stars seemed to hold their breath, staring down at the young Jedi Knight from the abyss above. He stared back at them, almost like he was doing back on Yavin.

And then Luke felt it.

He had trained in the arts of the Jedi and the Force ever since he first knew about the existence of the Force within him. He had battled foes of all kinds throughout the Galaxy, from the stormtrooper armies of the Empire to dreaded Sith Lords such as Vader and even the Emperor himself. And he knew when he was being watched.

He finally broke his gaze from the stars and turned to the new figure standing behind him.

"It's good to see you again, Obi-Wan".

The old Jedi Master had been standing by the doorway while Luke was observing the stars, the familiar smile etched on his face.

"And you too, Luke. It has been some time".

Luke nodded. "Almost too long".

"I see you have quite the stories happening to you" Obi-Wan said with a chuckle. "You seem relieved compared to your youth".

"You could say that's an understatement" Luke replied. "Years and years of conflict, and now it finally ends".

"I was also referring to your marriage, Luke" Obi-Wan quipped "but yes, it has ended. True, evil has not been completely vanquished, but we are getting ever closer. Even after all these years, you still retain an innate ability to surprise me. I was beginning to doubt that peace would ever come to pass".

"I am assuming this is some kind of constant achievement I've been accomplishing" Luke said, and they both laughed.

Hearing the laughter ring the empty room helped lift Luke's unsettled mood. It had been too long since he had shared a warm moment with his old mentor, and he couldn't remember the last time he had laughed with him. A small part of him saddened to remember that Obi-Wan was nothing but a specter of the past at this point, but nevertheless, Luke felt happy. But then he thought of something.

"I don't think you came to visit me for old time's sake, although that would be nice" Luke said, turning to face his master. "What brings you here?"

Although Obi-Wan was still smiling, Luke was able to sense that all was not well, and his face turned serious once more. Obi-Wan's followed in suit.

"Everything may appear to be well, Luke, but it could not be more to the contrary. You seem to have felt it yourself" he began.

Luke nodded. "True" he acknowledged "evil gathers, but where, I don't know. Nor do I know what it has in store for us".

He looked into Obi-Wan's eyes and sensed that the old master knew more about the situation than he did. He stayed silent, waiting for his explanation.

His mentor sighed. "Long ago, before the Clone Wars, my master and I uncovered a planet in the outer rim, hidden from most star systems. It was complete luck, locating that system, seeing as not only was it in any of the databases, but something felt off about it. As if there was more to it than it seemed. What was even stranger was what we found when we landed. The indigenous population consisted primarily of…well…"

Luke waited.

"…ponies" the master finished off rather lamely.

Luke raised his eyebrow. Obi-Wan Kenobi had come into his dream to talk to him about ponies? Was he really being serious or just pulling his leg? Luke felt, however, that Obi-Wan had not yet finished his story, so he stayed quiet and waited patiently for the rest of it.

Obi-Wan seemed to sense Luke's skepticism and merely chuckled "Don't worry, now, the rest of it is coming. As I was saying, they were ponies of many colors and types. It was almost as if you stepped into a children's tale. And when I say the place was peaceful, I am not at all exaggerating. These peoples are absolute pacifists, to the point that they have no concept of war or terror. Even evil is vanquished without the loss of lives, and their technology is tremendously basic compared to ours. It is simple to the point that they consider their monarch a goddess, who seems to hold quite a considerable connection to the Force. I myself would have to say it is the polar opposite of this Galaxy" he added humorously. He took a breath, paused, turned serious again, and continued.

"While we were there, we sensed the Force at work there. They interpret the Force there as a form of magic, but my master and I knew otherwise. The power of the Force that we felt there was one of the most powerful forms I had ever met in my life, surpassed only by your father's connection to the Force, although in what form it manifested we couldn't initially say. And we had come to the natural conclusion: if this planet was to fall under the control of evil, there's no telling what could befall the Galaxy.

"But then the Clone Wars erupted and engulfed the Galaxy in fire. Naturally, you could imagine what would happen if such a planet was overtaken by such conflict. It would be obliterated from existence. So, with the permission of Master Yoda, one of my first acts in the war was to go, alone, without the knowledge of even my pupil, to the planet and shield it from the Galaxy completely. While it was shielded, no power of the Force would be able to sense it, and it would appear as a completely black spot on the maps, so passer-bys would assume that it is merely an error and would not investigate further. That is why the Emperor was never able to locate and destroy this planet."

"And now it is revealed" Luke finished for him. Now everything was starting to make sense.

Obi-Wan nodded. "The emptiness that you have been feeling, Luke, is in connection to this. The Force is telling you that the Dark Side is far from crippled, and is in fact mobilizing itself once more, in the far reaches of the Galaxy, ready to strike once again. And now, it has a perfect opportunity: a planet of great power, but one that can offer no resistance. To think that such a chance has sprouted up for evil…" he trailed off.

Luke understood. At the mere news of the rise of a new evil, Luke knew it to be his duty to lead the vanguard in fighting off the new force, whatever it may be, and extinguish it before it was too late. But in this particular scenario, Luke felt something was off.

"You said that this planet was undetectable" he said. "How was it revealed?"

"Ah" Obi-Wan said, "that I am not sure of. The shield is intended to draw inquisitive passer-bys away from it, so it should have been penetrated by a complete accident, because no one would think of exploring such a place of their own accord."

"What's in this planet that's so powerful, anyway?" Luke continued. Somehow, although he couldn't see why such a silly place was so important, he felt it was the key to all this.

Obi-Wan took a second to look out the window into the vast darkness of space for a second before he turned back to Luke.

"While on this planet, my master and I investigated this powerful surge in the Force, and after many efforts at research we uncovered it. On this planet, there is a powerful concentration of Force energy that manifests itself into six separate forms of, for lack of better term, positive energy. When combined, these forms prove to be powerful enough to overcome even the darkest of energies – that is, on their world. However, it will not be enough, for the evil that this planet is about to encounter is much more overwhelming. They will need your help, or they will be destroyed."

Luke paused. "When you say this force is evil…"

"Surpassed only by the Emperor's, and you know how he was. There's no telling what they are up to." Obi-Wan explained.

It now seemed clear to Luke. It was up to him and his sister to locate this hidden planet and protect it from the darkness descending on them, and take the fight back and send this evil – whatever it was – back into wherever it came from.

"But you said this place was hidden from all the maps. How am I supposed to find it now?" Luke questioned.

Obi-Wan merely smiled "To that, my dear friend, you will have to rely on your instincts and the Force. It will help you."

Before Luke could ask further, he heard a distant rumbling noise. He looked outside, and saw the stars going out, one by one. Further towards the horizon, the buildings were dismantling themselves and falling to what was slowly becoming a non-existent ground. The room they were in was also starting to shake, and Luke realized that the dream was collapsing.

"It's time to go".

Luke turned back to Obi-Wan, who himself was beginning to fade away.

"You know what to do, Luke" was the last words Obi-Wan said before he disappeared and Luke found himself falling through darkness with images and voices spiraling around him once more, at a familiarly fast pace. Down and down he went, until finally, black was all he could see.

Luke opened his eyes.

He found himself once again in the old temple room, exactly the way he had left it before he descended into meditation. The view outside, the old walls, the darkness, the near silence; he was even sitting in exactly the same position.

He drew a deep breath and blew it out.

He knew what to do.

* * *

I apologize for the tremendous delay in uploading this, but I was caught up in a lot of work involving school and social life and more and stuff. I will try to upload more chapters in the next few weeks, as I have the next few chapters properly mapped out. All I need is a little more patience, because I assure you, this fanfiction WILL be completed. Comment, critique, etc, and thank you very much.


	10. Chapter 9 – A New Quest Begins

The fleet over Coruscant drew ever closer to Luke as the shuttle made its flight towards the _Galactic Voyager_, hovering ever vigilant over the capital of the Galaxy. Surrounded by frigates and corvettes, with miniscule fighters making their patrols and transports leaving and entering the planet, along with the commerce ships involved in trade routes that passed through, the planet was probably the busiest in the Galaxy.

Last time he was here, Luke had married the long-time Emperor's Hand, Mara Jade, under the backdrop of a treaty that ended a devastating civil war that raged for decades. Many people took this as a sign that peace was finally at hand, after nearly fifty years of it being a distant relic, and Luke couldn't have agreed more. Before then, the idea of marrying an assassin directly loyal to the old Emperor was unthinkable to Luke, but it was only after their mission on Nirauan, when they linked their minds together to battle the oncoming guard droids that guarded the clone of Grand Admiral Thrawn, that he finally came to terms with his love for her and was reciprocated in it by her. Merely three months later, they had joined together under the skyscrapers of Coruscant and fulfilled their desire of matrimony. Even now, Luke remembered the tremendous celebrations, the serene dance under the moonlight, and his unrivaled happiness that day.

It wasn't long before the RM-09 shuttle _Swiftsure_ glided towards the open hangar doors on the side of the _Galactic Voyager_ and descended to the ground. Outside, Luke could see the many starships docked and dormant, and the many engineers and officers working around them. He recognized many of them: the classic X-Wing, the diminutive yet formidable A-Wing, the giant B-Wing, among others. Looking ahead, Luke could see very clearly the giant yet flatlined form of the YT-1300 cruiser, the _Millennium Falcon_, Han's ship and a famous ship among the Alliance. The _Falcon_ had been at almost every significant battle of the Galactic Civil War and beyond, not counting Operation Skyhook. Its debut into the war of liberation was during the Battle of Yavin, showing up at the very last second to help Luke out from a tremendously tight spot involving a high-speed trench run and pursuing TIE fighters. It later joined to strike the death blow at Endor, being the ship that fired the final shots into the reactor core of the Death Star II. Ever since, it had been at the forefront of Alliance efforts to dismantle the remainder of the Empire, being present at the liberation of Coruscant, the hunt for Zsinj, and the new wars against Thrawn and the reborn Emperor. When Luke had first encountered the strange machine, he derided it as a "piece of junk", yet Han correctly countered that there was more to her than it seemed, and it seemed he was right: had it not been for the _Falcon_, Luke simply wouldn't be here.

A loud grinding noise and the sound of steam being released signaled the complete stop of the shuttle, and the pilot called back "We've arrived, Grand Master Skywalker".

Luke nodded "Thank you."

He rose from his seat and advanced towards the door, which then opened with a hissing noise and shifted aside, allowing him access to the hangar beyond. He walked towards the door.

The very first thing he saw when he exited the shuttle and descended the steps was his sister looking up at him with her arms crossed. The very second thing was his wife.

"Looks like someone's out of their den" Leia said smoothly.

"It's only been three months" Luke countered.

"Since you've been here" Mara Jade added. "About a few days since you last saw me".

"I know" Luke acknowledged. He looked around the hangar bay. "You've all been busy" he observed, noting the ships being refueled and the astromech droids working in conjunction with the engineers.

"Yeah, direct orders from Ackbar" Leia confirmed "although he's kept it pretty hush-hush for some reason. Won't even explain to us".

Luke looked around the room again, this time with one of his eyebrows raised. "It seems like some sort of drill".

"Against what? We're in the capital now, it's not like a fleet could jump in on us from nowhere. We would have seen them coming".

Luke said nothing, although the familiar pit in his stomach was being felt once again. It dissolved when he heard something else that was familiar.

"Master Luke, sir! It is so wonderful to see you again!"

Luke turned to see the golden protocol droid waddle towards him with his blue astromech companion in tow, who bleeped out a greeting as well.

"Threepio! Artoo! I was wondering whether I'd see you on here!"

As far back as he could remember, C-3PO and R2-D2 were two of his closest companions ever since he embarked on his journey across the stars. In fact, it was the little astromech's antics that got him on the run from the Empire and joining the growing Rebellion. He was with him during the trench run on the Death Star, during his Jedi training on Dagobah, and with the strike force during the Battle of Endor, just to name a few. His expertise with electronics was unrivaled, and he proved to be of immense help in many situations, despite his usual snarkiness. Threepio, on the other hand, was a lot more straight-mannered and usually the more worrisome of the two, although they were both as loyal as they could get, and practically almost inseperable.

"Indeed, sir, I was wondering if we were going to see you at all!"

Artoo beeped.

"Of course we were going to see him, you silly robot, why wouldn't he?"

Another bleep.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous" Threepio responded, starting to sound agitated. "Why would he do that?"

Another series of bleeps.

Threepio flinched "What in the Universe gave you that idea?"

"Alright, you two" Luke interrupted with a hearty chuckle just as Artoo blared something back and Threepio was about to retort. "I'll need to talk to Leia and Mara about something, so I'll come back and check with you guys in a bit, okay?"

Threepio turned to look at him, and his still eyes gave worry away, although he said "Not to worry then, Master Luke. Do take your time." Upon turning to walk away, he sputtered to his small friend "Now look what you've made him do. If it wasn't for that stupid talking mechanism of yours he wouldn't have acted like that. It's all your fault, as usual" he added irritantly.

Artoo shot back, and Threepio spun to look at him while walking.

"MY fault? How is it MY fault?" he exclaimed indignantly.

By then they had gotten out of earshot, but Luke was glad about that. He had important things to talk about. "Let's go somewhere quieter" he said, and they both agreed. He didn't need to tell Mara Jade that she had to hear this too.

They had wandered the hallways of the capital ship, passing many familiar and unfamiliar faces until they arrived to Leia's room. She inputted an access code and they were granted permission to enter. When they did, she closed the door behind them, and it was just Luke, Mara Jade, and Leia.

Luke turned to his sister, who was looking back at him. Their eyes met, and in them Luke saw a flicker of comprehension. As if she knew what he wanted to talk about.

Did she?

"So," Mara Jade said out loud, breaking the silence. "What's the story you have for us?"

"Obi-Wan visited you in your dream, right?" Leia asked. Luke nodded.

Mara Jade looked between both of them "Wait, what?"

Luke turned to his wife, and explained everything. The visions, the Jedi Temple, his old mentor , what he had told him, and what he was supposed to do. When he was done, Mara Jade looked at him as if Luke had just told her he could swim by wiggling his ears.

"Wait, so you're telling me Obi-Wan Kenobi came to you in your dreams to urge you to help out a civilization of talking equines from some unforeseeable danger?"

Luke shrugged "Pretty much so, yes."

Mara Jade turned to Leia "And how did you know?"

"Because the same thing happened to me" she said quietly.

Now two pairs of eyes were on her. She looked back at them.

"He told me the same thing. Everything. And believe me, you took him seriously faster than I did".

"Wait, didn't he just vanish into the Force for good?" Mara questioned.

"Yeah, but apparently he came back" Luke answered. "If the Force is letting him return to warn us about something, it must mean it's something big.

"You think maybe this is his idea of a sick joke?" Mara asked.

Luke and Leia both turned to look at her, unimpressed. "I was only checking" Mara quickly said.

Luke turned back to Leia "Well, I don't know about you, but I think this is something we should check out."

"I know" Leia answered wearily "but…"

"But what?" Luke pressed on.

Leia sighed and continued "Obi-Wan told us to help these people but he never said how. He didn't tell us where or how to find them. I talked to Han about it, and he told me to just forget it as another dream."

Luke seethed on the inside. As much as he wanted to carry out his mission, he had no choice but to admit that Obi-Wan had very basically left him in the middle of nowhere regarding how to do it or where to go. Sure, he was told to rely on the Force and his instincts, but that could only get him so far. He needed some actual direction as well.

"But I can't just forget it" Luke said. "I promised him I would save these people, regardless of who they are. And I know that there's actual danger out there, but I just can't place it fully. It may be just a feeling, but I know for a fact it's real. The dream proves it. And besides, Mara was right. His previous words were supposed to be the last, but the Force made him come back to warn me about it. Why would he do this if it wasn't so important?"

Before anyone could open their mouths to respond, the intercom came on.

"Attention. Attention. This is General Airen Cracken. Attention. I request the presence of Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, and Mara Jade Skywalker in the primary war room please. I repeat. I request the presence Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, and Mara Jade Skywalker in the primary war room please. Thank you".

The intercom went off. Mara Jade looked at the twin Skywalkers.

"Well, isn't that interesting? You only just arrived at the fleet and they already want to debrief us on something".

The Skywalkers exchanged glances, both thinking the same thoughts. _What would Alliance command want from us now?_

Leia broke eye contact first "Well, let's see what they want, shall we?"

"Yeah, let's" Luke agreed.

The three Jedi walked through the corridors again towards the war room. They passed various conference rooms and canteen areas, where the smell of food wafted around them as they continued on, countless 'freshers, and finally an elevator which took them to the primary war room located next to the bridge.

When they walked in, Luke recognized the faces immediately. There was Ponc Gavrisom, Chief of State of the New Republic and one of the architects of the Pellaon-Gavrisom treaty which brought about galactic peace; there was Supreme Commander Gial Ackbar, one of the oldest and greatest supporters of the Alliance and one of its most instrumental members, his tactical genius rivaled by almost none; there was Airen Cracken, the head of the New Republic Intelligence and one of the bigger heroes of the Alliance; the wizened Jan Dodonna, Executive Advisor of the New Republic High Command and one of the first of the Alliance generals; general Judder Page, head of the elite Page's Commandos; general Brenn Tantor, an ex-Imperial general who defected during the Galactic Civil War; Luke was surprised to see even Borsk Fey'lya among them, although from his facial expression it seemed he wanted to be anywhere but here. They were all seated around the central table with a hologram of a planet on it, but they all stood up when they saw the newcomers.

"Commander Skywalker" Ackbar's deep voice echoed throughout the room upon their arrival "It is an honor".

"The honor is mine, Supreme Commander Ackbar" Luke responded. He turned to the others "Gentlemen".

The others returned salutes and nods, Borsk albeit in a disgruntled manner. Luke paid him no heed, however. He understood that Borsk didn't entirely trust the New Jedi Order, and the fault wasn't with him: the Jedi hadn't prevented the rise of the Empire. But now the Empire was defeated, and the New Jedi Order was to be different. It didn't stop his suspicions, however.

"Been quite some time, Luke" Tantor said, with the hint of a smile, which Luke returned.

"Almost too long, General. I see the years haven't softened your experience".

"Refined it, in fact" he replied "Coruscant wasn't the last battle I was in, you know".

"We know" Cracken's voice pierced the air "and I'd love to exchange pleasantries with our elite Jedi and his companions, but that can wait for a more appropriate time".

Before Luke could answer, Leia burst out "A pleasure to meet you too, Cracken" she said, almost icily "but I'd also love to understand why I wasn't summoned to this meeting before. Instead, you had to invite me over the intercom. And it seems as if this is a war meeting, and we just ended war recently, so is there something we need to know?"

"Indeed there is" Gavrisom's voice cut through before a potential argument could sprout up "and we have called you in here because we fear the very opposite of peace is upon us".

Leia stared at the Chief of State, while Mara Jade glanced at the other officers to see their reaction. Luke, however, saw it coming.

Ackbar pressed a button on the control panel, and statistics began to pop up as he spoke.

"Approximately one week ago, a detachment from the Second Fleet consisting of the Nebulon-B frigate _Redeemer_, the Corellian CR90 corvettes _Lightning_ and _Corellia's Spirit_, the DP20 frigate _Righteous_, and six X-Wing squadrons under the callsigns of Greys One to Six, were sent to a region in the Outer Rim, near the edge of the Unknown Regions at the edge of the Galaxy on a routine mission as part of our patrols of these areas for certain threats and the general uncovering of these areas. Unfortunately, within two days, we lost contact from them and we haven't heard from them since. A second detachment was sent in after three days of the first group's mission into the same area, with the intent to uncover what happened to them. They found this."

He pressed another button, and the planet was shown clearly. From what Luke could see, it seemed to be almost a desert planet like Tatooine, but there was something off about it. As if the desert environment wasn't natural.

"This uncharted planet" Cracken continued "seems to have been completely devoid of life. Which is saying something because it used to be inhabited". He pressed a button and new images popped up.

Luke felt Mara Jade flinch beside him, and feelings of shock emanating from where Leia was standing, although her facial expression remained neutral. And he couldn't blame them.

One of the pictures showed an entire city burned to rubble, with what appeared to be burned-up skeletons littered everywhere. Another showed a port that seemed to be sacked and destroyed, with the vessels broken and destroyed and the people murdered on the spot. Yet a third was what Luke surmised to be the remains of a forest. One after another, what appeared to be mass atrocities were displayed on screen, to the utter dismay of the new onlookers.

"Wait, the_ entire planet_?" Mara Jade asked, punctuating her disbelief.

"Everything" Dodonna said gravely "and this wasn't the only one".

He thumbed several buttons, and the sphere was replaced by many more identical ones, varying from size to texture. More pictures came, but they all displayed the same destruction and devastation as the first one. Luke felt Leia shift beside her, and felt her body recoiling at the disturbing images.

"Could it be the Empire?" Leia asked, her voice wavering not only with apprehension but also with confusion.

"Can't be" Cracken countered "It wouldn't be surprising if it WERE them, but it wouldn't make sense. See, this planet" he drew their focus to what appeared to be an orange-colored planet "supposedly suffered the attack a year ago. This one" he pointed to a white, ice-planet "was attacked only days before the patrol group investigated. All these attacks are similar in appearance: whoever is doing them is looting the planet of as much resources as possible, then destroying the rest, along with eradicating all forms of life, and then escaping without a trace to track them by".

This greatly puzzled Luke. If such death and slaughter were occurring on such a large scale, how could he not have sensed it through the Force? This didn't make sense.

"What makes this more confusing" Page added "is that the scorch marks on most of the planets point to weapons similar to what the Imperials were using, as well as some unidentified blast marks that we haven't traced back to any weapon we know. However, all Imperial units are under the direct command of Grand Admiral Pellaon, and I doubt he'd send armies around sacking these planets behind our backs."

"What makes you so sure?" Mara Jade asked.

"They gain nothing from this" Borsk said "There is no need for the Imperial Army to run around destroying planets after fighting is declared over. Pellaon is no fool."

"Fine then" Leia said sharply, a little too sharply for Luke's comfort "Why are we here?"

The officers glanced at each other before turning to the trio, and Luke had a feeling he knew what they were about to say.

"This clearly constitutes a dire threat to the New Republic, whatever it may be" Gavrisom said. "Current proof points to the Imperial Remnant as being the culprits, however what my associates say is correct. Therefore, we cannot act without more proof and understanding of the situation. And here is where you come in".

"How so?" Mara Jade asked, before Luke could open his mouth.

"Wait, let me guess" Leia said, in an almost bored voice "You want us to head in there ourselves, find out whatever is doing this, report back to you guys, and hopefully deal with whatever was doing these attacks to begin with as well."

"Couldn't have put it better ourselves" Tantor said.

"Why us?" Leia pressed "Couldn't you have sent one of your elite soldiers instead? Page's Commandoes ought to be bored".

"Sending another patrol group or even a commando group is too conspicuous" Ackbar said. "Especially to whoever devastated these planets so".

"Besides" Tantor put in "You have plenty of experience with dealing in such situations. You should be able to handle it with no problems whatsoever".

"And we have the Force to guide us" Luke said, before Leia could respond. She was unconvinced, however.

"Look, I don't know about this…" Leia began.

"Don't worry too much about this, Leia" Luke told her. "We've been through this a hundred times before. We can do it again. Besides, they have faith in us, and the fate of many other planets rests in our hands. You wouldn't want to let them down, would you?"

Leia looked at him, and at once he knew she understood another reason, this one hidden from the rest. _The dream._

"Indeed not, I say" Dodonna said. "We have complete confidence in you".

"You can do it" Tantor added.

Gavrisom looked at them for a second before he added "Agreed. The fate of our future rests with you, if the danger is as dark as it seems. And we cannot know for sure unless you discover the truth".

Leia took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh "Fine, we'll do it".

Luke looked at Mara Jade, who nodded. He turned to the leaders and asked "Where exactly are we headed?"

Cracken thumbed at the interface in front of him and the images zoomed out to show the Galaxy in full. Various highlights popped up showing numerous places of importance, such as the locations of the major Republic fleets and planets like Coruscant and Yavin IV. The box that showed up to denote the co-ordinates, however, was as far from them as you could get.

"We will be directing you first to the location where our first patrol vanished. It is a good starting position, plus we have positioned units there with orders to report directly back to us in the event of an emergency. From there, you may be able to discern your next course of action within the area."

"Remember" Page said "As soon as you find whatever is causing this, report back to us immediately. Don't linger too long, I don't think the ones who did this want any witnesses getting back alive".

"We'll be careful" Luke answered. "When do we move?"

"As soon as you are able" Gavrisom replied. "Best of luck, Grand Master Skywalker, and may the Force be with you."

The other superiors echoed their confidence, Borsk albeit grumbled. Luke nodded, and took his leave, as did his two companions. As soon as the door closed, however, Luke sensed his sister's dissatisfaction about to leave her mouth, and before it happened he spoke.

"I know you don't feel overly comfortable with this, and neither do I, but this isn't something to be disregarded. You've seen what's happened."

"Yeah, and it would be totally wonderful if it were to happen to us as well" she replied, her voice laced with irony.

"Exactly, which is why we need to stop this before it gets worse" he pressed.

"Hey, sorry to butt in" Mara Jade interrupted, before Leia could fire back "But could this situation possibly be connected to the weird dream thing you had? Both of you?"

"I know it is" Luke said. More than once he trusted his gut feeling, and more than once he was right in doing so. The more he investigated this, the more he would understand how the two were correlated. And Leia couldn't deny it. It was evident, even if she was half-hearted about the whole deal.

"Look, this is a bit of a weight on us now. How about we get some rest before we figure out what to do. We'll talk to Han together afterwards" Mara Jade suggested.

"Good idea" Luke agreed. He looked at Leia, who nodded after a few seconds.

"Well, one thing's for sure" Luke said. "Han's not going to like this".

* * *

"I don't like this" said Han irritantly.

"I don't like it either, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't do it" Luke said.

"Why do I always get caught in these kinds of situations?" Han shot back.

Luke was right about one thing. Han didn't like it _at all_.

He was with Mara Jade and Leia in Han's room, trying to convince their friend to join them in what they knew was going to be a treacherous journey. Needless to say, he still wasn't convinced.

"What kind of crap is High Command giving you guys, telling you they can't spare other soldiers to do this. Page's Commandoes are highly qualified to do the job, how come you have to go instead?"

"You heard what they said" Leia tried to tell him "Sending another group of Alliance soldiers on an official patrol in the area is too conspicuous."

"Oh, and the Republic's greatest heroes aren't" Han said sarcastically "In fact, they're so unknown that if they DID get knocked off THEN they can send in the other troops. Do you see what I'm talking about?"

"I see your point, Han, but it doesn't mean we have to shy away from-"

"Doesn't matter for me" Han said angrily "I didn't see the end of fighting just for me to go back to it. I'm tired of getting shot at".

"So am I, but you don't see me balking away from this" Luke said, maintaining his calm.

"Yeah, well I am, and I'm suggesting you do too" Han said, with an air of the topic finishing.

"Look, Han" Leia suddenly burst out, just as Mara Jade was about to open her mouth to back up Luke "I've seen what's been going on. It's worse than you think it is. We never had this kind of stuff happen to us before except when the Empire blew up my home and tore up entire systems with their World Devastators. I don't want this happening to us again, not for a million years. I'd willingly go through more goons shooting at us to get rid of this before it gets worse rather than sitting around waiting for it to happen before I do something about it. So whether you like it or not, we're going. If you don't want to come, that's fine with us".

Luke glanced at his sister with a raised eyebrow. Mara Jade looked impressed. Han, on the other hand, looked like he was just slapped in the face. He took a breath, and then swallowed.

"Fine, I'm in" he said, reluctantly. "But what about Jacen and Jaina? And Anakin?"

Luke knew this was going to happen. Fortunately, he hoped to secure this loose end with the help of the Jedi Praxeum. They would take care of the children while they were gone, due to them being children of his closest family member. They could even help them a bit with understanding the power of the Force while the family was away doing their business.

"Don't worry about them" Leia said, mirroring Luke's words "We have it all sorted out. They'll be fine".

"You sure?" Han said, with concern in his voice.

"Sure as ever" she managed a smile "Nothing will happen to them while they're here".

Han glanced at Luke, who nodded. He took another breath and said "Alright, where are we headed?"

"A long way from here, I suggest we fire up the _Falcon_" Luke said. "Where's Chewie?"

"Oh, he's already inside, working on some loose wiring" Han said offhandedly.

"Well, that cuts down our search" Leia commented "Mara, see if you can find the droids. We may need them".

"Sure" Mara Jade said. "Dunno how they're gonna react to this, but I'll look for them".

With that, she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her. Han looked at the two Skywalkers and said "Well, seeing as she's gone to find the droids, lemme go tell Chewie about this new plan. Might as well let him know what's going on before we start up". Without waiting for their answer, Han turned, but Leia grabbed him by the arm and swirled him around.

"What?" Han asked indignantly, trying to understand what this was about "What did I do?"

"Han" Leia said firmly, but softly, putting a hand on his chest "We'll be okay".

Han looked at Luke over his wife's shoulder for a second, who simply shrugged.

"I know, I know" Han said, a bit distractedly.

Luke felt Leia grin even though he couldn't see her face, and she let go of him. Han promptly left, the door sliding in after him.

She turned and looked at Luke, who merely gave him his warm smile.

Everything was going to be okay.


End file.
